In late February, representatives from government, business, academia, think tanks, and NGOs converged on a cliffside hotel overlooking Half Moon Bay outside of San Francisco. The location was appropriate as it looked out on a picturesque corner of what they’d come to discuss: the vast oceans that wrap over 70% of the planet. This was The Economist’s annual World Ocean Summit, hosted in association with National Geographic. With 250 attendees and backed by a strong call to action in The Economist’s February issue, the event sought to gather the most influential marine thinkers and policymakers in the world and discuss what can be done to begin healing and sustaining Earth’s most crucial ecosystem. As John Kerry neatly stated in his opening remarks, the challenge is no longer diagnosis, but action.…