Ocean Zone News Blog

From OSU News and Communications

A one-day symposium in Eugene will bring together policy experts and marine scientists – an important step in exploring how climate change impacts on the world’s oceans may necessitate new policies and management approaches.

The free public symposium will be held at the University of Oregon’s Knight Law Center (room 175) from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10. More information on the event, including registration, is available at www.waynemorsecenter.uoregon.edu/_pages/events_themes/oceans_conference.html. The center is located at 1515 Agate St.

Oregon State University oceanographer Jack Barth will moderate the morning panel that will outline some of the oceans’ responses to climate change. Other panels on community impacts and policy issues will follow in the afternoon.

“The ocean scientific community would really like to see more focus on the oceans in international discussions concerning climate change,” Barth said. “Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol were atmospheric-centric when it comes to looking at climate change impacts, mitigation and policy needs.”

Barth is a principal investigator with PISCO, the Partnership for the Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans. The multi-institution research initiative coordinated by OSU is a co-sponsor of the symposium, along with the University of Oregon Law School, the UO Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, and the OSU Foundation.

From: Shore News Today

More than two dozen strong, they blasted their air horns as they entered the harbor in Martha’s Vineyard last Thursday. The flotilla, a mix of recreational and commercial fishermen from coastal communities across the Northeast, was in Massachusetts to protest restrictions on fishing imposed by President Barack Obama through executive order that they say creates needless layers of bureaucracy while threatening their livelihood.

Leading the parade was Jim Hutchinson, managing director of the New Jersey Recreational Fishing Alliance, in a 45-foot trawler with the NJRFA flag atop the wheel house. Another, the Gadsden flag, delivered the message: “Don’t tread on me.”

“It was awesome,” Hutchinson said. “It was a wonderful day. New Jersey was well represented.”

The RFA is a national, grassroots political action organization representing recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry on marine fisheries issues. Their mission is to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs, and ensure the long term sustainability of our nation’s saltwater fisheries.

The Federal Geographic Data Committee is conducting a public review of the draft Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard.  The CMECS is a framework for organizing scientific information about the marine and coastal environments of the United States. The CMECS provides a means of classifying ecological and habitat units using a common terminology. It provides a uniform protocol for identifying, characterizing and naming ecological units in support of monitoring, protection, and restoration of unique biotic assemblages, protected species, critical habitat, and important ecosystem components.

The FGDC Coastal and Marine Spatial Data Subcommittee, chaired by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, developed the draft CMECS. The FGDC Coordination Group, comprised of representatives of Federal agencies, approved releasing this draft standard for public review at its July 20, 2010 meeting. The FGDC invites all stakeholders in coastal and marine ecology and management to comment on this standard to ensure that the standard meets their needs.

The draft CMECS may be downloaded at http://www.csc.noaa.gov/benthic/cmecs/CMECS_doc.pdf.

Comments must be submitted online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/22G2S67  no later than Monday, December 13, 2010.

For further information, contact Ms. Julie Binder Maitra, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Geographic Data Committee, jmaitra@fgdc.gov, 703-648-4627.

From The Dutch Harbor Fisherman

The State of Alaska is taking steps to fight two recent federal government actions that the governor says threaten Alaska fisheries and jobs.

President Obama recently signed an executive order creating a new federal bureaucracy tasked with setting ocean policy and requiring marine spatial planning – that is, ocean zoning – in all U.S. waters.

“The federal bureaucracy is too cumbersome already,” Gov. Sean Parnell said in a news release. “Creating more councils, committees and approval processes won’t accomplish anything in this instance except create delay and greater obstacles to Alaska jobs and Alaska fisheries.”

The governor was responding to Executive Order 13547, signed by the president, which creates regional planning bodies to develop marine spatial plans for all coastal waters. Ocean zoning is of great concern to fishermen, boaters and resource developers. The policy could have significant adverse impacts on commercial use and development in the oceans and coastal zone.

“Before statehood, when a distant federal bureaucracy managed our resources, Alaskans experienced devastating economic effects,” Parnell said. “In the midst of an economic downturn, the federal government should be more focused on private-sector job creation, not killing off opportunities for Alaskans.”

CEQ issued the following report:

Report Regarding the Minerals Management Service’s National Environmental Policy Act Policies, Practices, and Proceduresas They Relate to Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Exploration and Development

August 16, 2010

The recommendations include:

“Perform careful and comprehensive NEPA review of individual deepwater exploration, operation, development, production, and decommissioning activities, including site-specific information where appropriate.”

The report is available at this link http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ceq/20100816-ceq-mms-ocs-nepa.pdf

Submit your views to CEQ via the CRE IPD.

TAIPEI, Taiwan, August 10, 2010 –/WORLD-WIRE/– The 5th International Fishers Forum (IFF5) concluded Thursday in Taipei with approximately 300 participants from fishing industries, governments, academia and conservation organizations declaring their support for a 12-point plan of action on marine spatial planning (MSP) and bycatch mitigation. The actions aim to include the fishing industry in ongoing efforts to use MSP to manage human activities and to continue past IFF efforts to reduce unwanted fishery interactions with sea turtles, seabirds, sharks, non-target finfish and marine mammals.

The United Nations defines MSP as “a public process of analyzing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives that are usually specified through a political process.” MSP can be used as a tool to avoid and minimize conflicts, and sustain ecosystem functioning and services, comparable to land-use planning, but in the ocean.

According to the IFF5 declaration, the efforts of the fishing and broader seafood industry to initiate or improve coordination with other industries that use and affect marine resources will contribute to successful mitigation of marine pollution, the spread of invasive alien species, climate change and other factors that adversely affect the fishing industry and marine biodiversity.

Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–August 3, 2010.  National Marine Sanctuaries have helped facilitate ecosystem-based management practices in U.S. waters by developing tools that balance marine conservation goals while minimizing conflicts between diverse marine interests, according to a new NOAA report.

The National Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series report, “Examples of Ecosystem-based Management in National Marine Sanctuaries: From Theory to Practice,” found that across the sanctuary system, managers used various approaches to encourage stakeholder engagement and guide protection of marine habitats and biodiversity. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries manages 14 marine protected areas covering more than 150,000 square miles of ocean and Great Lakes waters.

The report presents eight case studies that show how ecosystem-based management principles were implemented in sanctuary-specific management and planning documents, co-management strategies, stakeholder engagement efforts, and marine spatial planning.

The report notes that over the past 20 years, ecosystem-based management, which considers cumulative effects of different activities and interactions among species, emerged as an alternative to traditional single-species approaches for management of marine and coastal resources. Both the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy called on the U.S. to adopt ecosystem-based management as the foundation for a new era in ocean conservation.

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Planning. You can’t build a community without it. Zoning laws, codes, permit processes – they turn chaos into order.

So why should the ocean be any different? Shouldn’t we apply the same principles to our coastal waters?

With the stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama on Monday set into motion such a planning process by creating a National Ocean Policy and an accompanying National Ocean Council, a body of scientists and administration officials charged with overseeing activities such as drilling, fishing and shipping along the nation’s ocean shores.

Rep. Sam Farr, a longtime champion of such an ocean-resource policy, hailed Obama’s executive order, comparing it to the nation’s Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

The executive order, Farr said, “in effect creates a Clean Ocean Act.”

At the heart of the new policy, which drew praise from local environmentalists, is the creation of “marine spatial plans.” Just as cities develop zoning to guide land use, marine zones will be developed to guide the best use of coastal waters. That planning will be done by nine regional bodies.

Battle Creek Enquirer

New ocean policy includes Great Lakes

July 22, 2010

Although often taken for granted, water is a
tremendously valuable resource. Our nation’s
oceans, lakes and rivers face increasing demands
for commercial and recreational uses. Many times
those demands are at odds with one another, and
problems arise.

Such conflicts are only going to grow in the years
ahead, so we’re glad that President Barack Obama
this week announced a new national policy to
strengthen how the United States manages its
oceans and coasts. In signing an executive order
establishing a new National Ocean Council, the
president did not create new regulations or
restrictions, but rather put into place a process by
which certain recreational and commercial activities
are assigned to specific areas. The process, known
as marine spatial planning, recognizes the
competing demands placed on our water resources
and seeks to help balance those varied interests in a
fair and reasonable way.

The new policy is based on recommendations from
an Ocean Policy Task Force established last year and
seeks to improve coordination and planning among
federal agencies as well as state and local
governments for the varied uses of the nation’s
coastal zones. It also aims to improve the
preservation of ecosystems.

The Great Lakes are included under the new policy,
and as we have said before, while we are glad to see
federal safeguards for the lakes, it also is important
that officials recognize the importance of preserving
these giant fresh-water bodies and don’t treat their
challenges and issues as secondary to those
affecting oceans.

The new national ocean policy is an
acknowledgement that oceans are not just
wilderness but rather a huge work zone that makes
significant contributions to the national economy. A
unified, thoughtful plan to guide the management of
such a vast resource is necessary and welcome.

Gloucester Times

By Richard Gaines Staff Writer

By executive order, President Obama has hit the go button for the creation of a political system for writing ocean and Great Lakes usage plans overseen by a new National Ocean Council.

The ideas involved including “marine spatial planning” and “ecosystem based management” have had a champion for years in Jane Lubchenco, a leading academic scientist before her nomination to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Marine spatial planning has its closest terrestrial analog in simple zoning, but as White House officials Tuesday conceded, “instead of mapping it out,” as a zoning plan would do, the new bureaucracy — with nine regional advisory committees reporting to the National Ocean Council — would attempt to work out how shipping, commercial and recreational fishing, recreational, aquaculture, mining/drilling and other uses might be fit together, if continued mining and drilling are allowed at all.

“Yes, it’s a kind of zoning,” said one White House official who briefed the Times on the plan Tuesday. “But it does not control a zoning plan — it’s hard to describe.”