Ocean Zone News Blog

From: NYT

As the 27-agency National Ocean Council begins the formidable task of mapping out the myriad resources of the nation’s oceans, lakes and coasts, some are looking to the Interior Department’s offshore wind program for hints of how early planning can improve federal decisionmaking.

Interior’s plan to expedite wind leasing and development off the Atlantic Coast is viewed by some as an early glimpse of the potential for coastal and marine spatial planning, or CMSP. The Obama administration initiative seeks to gather scientific data, mapping resources and input from ocean stakeholders to provide a framework for federal officials and investors to make informed decisions.

From: The Maritime Executive

NOAA Policy Director, Sally Yozell, will participate in the first-ever National Business Forum on Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), on behalf of Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce and NOAA Administrator.

The National Business Forum on MSP (13-14 July, Washington, D.C.) is for businesses that care about their future use of marine space and resources. The Forum is the only event that brings the ocean business community together to develop a strategy to address common concerns about MSP.

From: Alaska Dispatch

by Patti Epler

As the state’s own coastal zone management program vaporizes, the Obama administration is quietly pushing ahead with its own initiative to manage the oceans, coastline and the Great Lakes.

In fact, the feds will be in Anchorage Friday, June 10, as part of a “listening tour” aimed at hearing what local folks think about the government program including its nine main objectives. The public comment session is slated for 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Z.J. Loussac Library. The listeners are in Barrow today at the North Slope Borough offices, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

From: Providence Journal 

By Alex Kuffner/Journal Staff Writer

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — As states around the country start to determine the best locations to develop offshore wind energy, a Rhode Island ocean zoning plan is being held up as a model that they can emulate. 

Last week, the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island hosted a three-day workshop to teach planners from coastal and Great Lakes states about the two-year, $8-million effort to create the Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), a document based on the work of dozens of scientists that recommended two general areas off the coast of Rhode Island where offshore wind farms can be built.

From: Stuff.co.nz

The head of GNS Science says whether New Zealanders like it or not it is inevitable there will be more drilling of the country’s seabeds.

GNS chief executive Alex Malahoff spoke today at the opening day of the two-day Coastlines conference in Auckland, to discuss “spatial planning for sea and sky”, which attracted some of the country’s top science, environmental and legal specialists.

Malahoff, who joined Greenpeace executive director Bunny McDiarmid in a panel discussion, told the audience New Zealand must make use of all of it’s resources.