By Thomas Gounley Friday, October 2, 2009

Andrew Rosenbergy has been tapped by NOAA to help advise the White House.
University of New Hampshire Professor Andrew Rosenberg has been tapped by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to advise the White House on marine spatial planning over the next 90 days.
Rosenberg is a professor in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, as well as UNH’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space.
“I am advising the President’s Council on Environmental (CEQ),” said Rosenberg. “They are responsible for coordinating the Ocean Policy Task Force.”

In June, Obama issued a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies to create a national policy for the country’s oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes. This prompted the formation of the task force.

The memorandum reads: “To succeed in protecting the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, the United States needs to act within a unifying framework under a clear national policy, including a comprehensive ecosystem-based framework for the long-term
conservation and use of our resources.”

According to Rosenberg, many government agencies, from NOAA to the Navy, deal with the oceans in some way and that the goal of the task force is to figure out how they will work together.

“It’s to try and figure out a better way to coordinate policy across the government,” he said.

Rosenberg will be advising specifically on marine special planning, sometimes referred to as marine “zoning.”

“I’ve worked on related concepts for some time now,” he said.

Rosenberg’s contract runs until the end of the year. He will devote approximately 20 percent of his work week to his advising role, and NOAA will reimburse the university for his time.

He will be doing this while continuing to teach his graduate-level course and furthering his research projects in historical ecology and ocean policy and science. The bulk of the work, he said, he will be able to do over the phone, although the appointment will also involve some traveling

For Rosenberg, it will be building on research he has already been working on.
“This goes go along with some of my work at UNH, which regards how you integrate the various [government] agencies,” said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg was a senior level official at NOAA before coming to UNH in 2000. From 2001 to 2004 he worked with on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which recommended the formation of the current Ocean Policy Task Force.