1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Regional Ocean Partnership Act . 2. Findings; sense of Congress; purposes (a) Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) The ocean and coastal waters of the United States are foundational to the economy, security, global competitiveness, and well-being of the United States and continuously serve the people of the United States and other countries as an important source of food, energy, economic productivity, recreation, beauty, and enjoyment. (2) Over many years, the resource productivity and water quality of the ocean and coastal areas of the United States have been diminished by pollution, increasing population demands, economic development, and natural and man-made hazard events, both acute and chronic. (3) Ocean and coastal areas of the United States are managed by State and Federal resource agencies and regulated on an interstate and regional scale by various overlapping Federal authorities, thereby creating a significant need for interstate coordination to enhance regional priorities, including the ecological and economic health of those areas. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the United States should seek to support interstate coordination of shared regional priorities relating to the management, conservation, resilience, and restoration of ocean and coastal areas to maximize efficiencies through collaborative regional efforts by Regional Ocean Partnerships, in consultation with Federal and State agencies, Tribal governments, and local authorities