Membership in the World Ocean Council (WOC) vaulted from seven to 31 companies and associations in 2010, the organisation's first full year of activity. WOC members to date are from oil and gas, shipping, seafood, tourism, ocean technology, maritime law, marine environmental services and other industries.
The WOC aims to forge cross-sectoral industry leadership on ocean sustainability focusing on a number of areas:
- Marine spatial planning (MSP) – facilitating the ocean business community's understanding and involvement in MSP as it advances in the US, Europe and elsewhere.
- High seas – ensuring coordinated ocean industry participation in governance, protected areas and other developments affecting the use of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
- Arctic – establishing a forum for ocean industries to engage in the policy and practical efforts needed to address the challenges of responsible operations in the changing Arctic.
- Ocean science – exploring how to scale-up the number of vessels and platforms collecting ocean and atmospheric data that contribute to better understanding of the changing seas and climate.
- Cross-cutting issues – creating multi-industry platforms for tackling shared issues and cumulative effects, such as: invasive species, water pollution, noise, marine mammals, marine debris, etc.
- Ocean policy – ensuring constructive industry engagement in the Law of the Sea, Convention on Biological Diversity and other international policy processes affecting ocean use and governance.
The WOC is moving forward on these priorities in the coming months, hosting a workshop on MSP at the Seafood Summit, co-organising a panel on best practices in preventing marine debris at sea at the International Marine Debris Conference, and engaging Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission/World Metrological Organisation scientists on expanding industry data collection.