On December 5th, President Obama continued to build on his legacy to protect our aquatic resources by issuing an Executive Order. The recently issued Executive Order – Safeguarding the Nation from the Impacts of Invasive Species, takes aim at existing policy given the fact that invasive species costs the U.S. billions of dollars in negative impacts, every year.
The recently issued order amends Executive Order 13112 to incorporate considerations of human and environmental health, contributing factors from climate change, and cost-efficient actions. You may find the full text of the December 5th Executive Order here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/05/executive-order-safeguarding-nation-impacts-invasive-species. And, for more information on what the next administration can do to protect our fisheries and aquatic resources from invasive species, please take a look at the AFS document “Future of our Nation’s Fisheries and Aquatic Resources: Challenges We Face in 2017 and Beyond” found here: https://fisheries.org/policy-media/future-of-the-nations-aquatic-resources/.