After hearings in Providence and around the nation, the Obama administration has moved closer to developing a new federal policy that aims at protecting oceans.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer
In September, more than 250 people from Maine to South Carolina packed a room in the Rhode Island Convention Center to offer their suggestions to Obama administration officials working on a new ocean policy for the nation.

Last week, following similar hearings held around the nation, President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force released an interim report calling for managing coastal waters through a zoning-like process called marine spatial planning.

The 32-page report, the “Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning,” can be found at www.whitehouse.gov. A 60-day period for public review and comment is now under way.

The marine spatial planning scheme being prepared by the President’s Council on Environmental Quality is designed to move the country away from sector-by-sector and statute-by-statute decision-making to a “more integrated, comprehensive, ecosystem-based, flexible and proactive approach to planning and managing uses and activities.”

The plan is not top-down management, the council says. It is a new approach to resource planning that is “regionally based and developed cooperatively among federal, state, tribal and local authorities and regional governance structures, through the establishment of nine regional planning bodies.”

It places science-based information at the heart of decision-making and emphasizes stakeholder and public participation.

The plan recommends creating coastal regions around the country that would each have its own planning body. The Northeast Region would include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the council who moderated the hearing in Providence, issued a statement saying, “The uses of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes have expanded exponentially over time. These waters provide the United States with many commercial, recreational, cultural, energy, scientific, economic, conservation and national security benefits and they sustain diverse habitats and species.

“At the same time they are facing environmental challenges including pollution and habitat destruction that make them increasingly vulnerable. Without an improved, more thoughtful approach, we risk an increase in user conflicts and the potential loss of critical economic, ecosystem, social and cultural benefits for present and future generations.”

John Torgan at Save The Bay said his group thinks the report is a “positive thing.”

“We’re especially interested in regional planning bodies and the opportunity for Rhode Island to be a leader in ocean planning and management for New England.”

The Conservation Law Foundation, the New England-based environmental advocacy group, also expressed its support.

“We are encouraged by the draft framework’s comprehensiveness and the thoughtful and open process that has gone into development of it,” said Sean Cosgrove, the CLF’s ocean campaign director. “CLF is continuing to work with the administration towards comprehensive ocean management that ensures ecological sustainability, protects special ocean places and promotes healthy coastal communities here in New England and on a national scale.”

After hearing comments on this interim report, the council plans to finalize recommendations in the report and another interim report issued in September. It plans to make a final report to the president in early 2010.

plord@projo.com