Ocean Zone News Blog

Presentation on Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan Use of Decision Support Tools by Nick Napoli and Stephanie Moura of the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership

The Massachusetts Ocean Partnership is developing and applying several tools to support decision making during the implementation of and updates to the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. The tools include the Cumulative Impacts model and an ecosystem services tradeoff model developed by the University of California at Santa Barbara, the MIMES ecosystem service model developed by the University of Vermont and Boston University, and the MIDAS decision
support interface developed by Boston University. This webinar will provide an overview of these tools, why they were selected, a demonstration of draft and final products, and how they are being applied in Massachusetts. We will also provide some lessons and recommendations for their continued development and potential application within the marine spatial planning context. Learn more about the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership and its work at http://massoceanpartnership.org/.

Editor’s Note:  Germany and the UK are reluctant to sign on to the European ocean zoning  plan.  “Some (United Kingdom and Germany) also expressed misgivings about maritime spatial planning, pointing out that this is a national competence and that subsidiarity applies. Reluctance was also voiced over the social aspect, a “weakness” highlighted by France. But “this dimension is de facto included in the text,” explained Barroso, because “growth and employment are its key elements”. On maritime safety, barely mentioned, Christofias explained that “this question is the competence of the Transport Council, not the IMP”.

From: Euro Politics