Jean Flemma, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and director of the Ocean Defense Initiative, joined the Marine Fish Conservation Network for an online Waterside Chat on July 19, 2023. Jean is a long-time policy hand and, as host Tom Sadler described her, “important and very wise counsel on ocean policy”. Their conversation covered a range of issues related to oceans and climate change, focusing on actions by the Biden administration and the Blueprint for Ocean Climate Action.

Among many other topics, Jean and Tom discussed:

• Why our food supply, coastal communities, coral reefs and more are threatened as the ocean warms and acidifies
• Why if we want a livable planet for our children, we can no longer kick the climate can down the road
• The Biden administration’s commitment to addressing climate change’s effects on our oceans, and how they are following through on it, including historic sums allocated for coastal-community resilience, electrification of ports and much more
• Why NMFS needs to be doing a lot more to support fisheries managers in addressing the challenges climate change presents to our fisheries
• How the Ocean Defense Initiative focuses on the idea of amplifying ocean issues, to help them break through with decision-makers
• How Blueprint for Ocean Climate Action was crowdsourced from a wide swath of advocates, scientists and activists

Learn more:

• The Urban Ocean Lab
• The Blueprint for Ocean Climate Action