Transcript Emerging West Coast Regional Marine Initiatives

Fostering Emerging West Coast Regional Marine Initiatives
William Stelle, Jr
[email protected]
Ocean Law Seminar
Seattle, Washington
May 23, 2008
Our Challenge
 Let Us Think Prospectively About Tomorrow
 Our objective is to enable better decisions on how
to best manage marine resources for present and
future generations, focusing on the west coast
region
 We have money, access to public and private
authorities but no special powers
 Tomorrow is a new day. On what and whom should
we spend our money, and why?
Working Assumptions
 The present characteristics are a given
 No new significant Federal or state dollars
 Increasing challenges on the living marine resource fronts
 Enormous issues of climate change (changes in temperature,
circulation, food web, hydrological cycles, etc. etc.)
 Marine and estuarine fishery collapses
 Expanding human populations and ever weak connections of
land-sea interface
 Significant scientific ignorance and shrinking science and
monitoring budgets
Working Assumptions, cont
 Weakened public agencies and budgets
 Jurisdictional spaghetti at multiple scales
 Increasing public awareness of coastal issues and
risks
 Increasingly restive publics wanting “action” without
too many inconveniences
 New opportunities for federal energies and
initiatives
 Blossoming regional and local initiatives
Significant Regional Activities Underway
 The West Coast Governors Agreement on Ocean Health
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Map and Adapt to Climate change
Promote clean beaches and coastal waters
Protect healthy habitats by mapping and identifying important areas
Implement ecosystem based management
Reduce adverse impacts of offshore energy
Promote ocean literacy
Expand marine science and monitoring
Support sustainable coastal communities
 Action Plan Due in Summer, 2008
 Contains an excellent and comprehensive (albeit modest) menu of
activities
Regional Activities, cont
 California Initiatives (deep)
 Implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act
 Establishes the Ocean Protection Council
 Calls for Designation of a Network of MPAs in five coastal regions
 29 MPAs for the Central Coast in 07
 3 MPAs for the North Central Coast Pending Approval
 Expected approvals for the other 3 regions by the end of 2011
 Public/Private funding in a partnership of the Resources Agency,
Cal. Fish and Game and the Resources Legacy Fund
 Activities of the Ocean Protection Council
 Strategic priorities of governance; research; water quality; physical
processes and habitats; ecosystems; and education
 $30 million in grants through for 07/08
Regional Initiatives, cont
 Oregon
 Oregon Ocean Advisory Council
 Gubernatorial Solicitation of MPAs and Sanctuary Proposals
in 2005
 Reconvened in 2007 with a scaled back emphasis on 10
MPAs
 Recommendations Expected at end of 2008
 Oregon Coastal Caucus (Legislative)
 Mapping Oregon habitats
 Other
Regional Initiatives, cont
 Washington
 Puget Sound Partnership
 Major Focus of the Washington Marine Agenda
 Integrated Environmental Assessment for the Sound, lead by NOAA
Fisheries Science Center
 Development of Action Plan by 12/08
 5 year Implementation Plan
 The Outer Coast
 Continued Implementation of the Straits Commission
 Continued Implementation of Selected MRCs
 San Juan County Marine Stewardship Area
 Pending Port Susan MSA designation
 Outer Coast National Marine Sanctuary Plan Amendments
 Scoping in 08, final by 2010
 Washington Marine Protected Areas Workgroup
 Recommendations on MPA areas to Legislature by 12/09
Significant Regional Initiatives, Private Sector
 New Liquid Natural Gas Facilities off the Oregon
Coast (two pending)
 Marine Renewable Energy Developments
 Tidal Power
 Wave Energy
 Wind Energy
 Expanding marine and estuarine aquaculture
 Other?
Major Regional Marine Challenges
 Zoning of Marine Spaces: why, for what, for whom
and on what basis?
 Marine protected areas
 Dedicated marine energy siting
 Aquaculture
 Improving the effectiveness of the land-sea
connections as populations grow
 Planning for climate changes in coastal
development and redevelopment
 Invasive species controls
Regional Challenges, Cont
 Science and Technical
 Projecting the ubiquitous effects of climate change and sea-level
rise
 Expanded monitoring capabilities
 Expanded near-shore mapping coast-wide
 Enhancing analytical tools for cumulative effects (or ecosystembased analyses)
 IEAs at multiple scales (from the California Current to sub-Puget
Sound scales)
 EBM-based analyses across different scales
 Expanded System of Pilot Projects beyond Murrow Bay, Elkhorn
Slough, Port Orford, the San Juans, etc
Regional Challenges, Cont
 Building the Shrinking Institutional Infrastructure
 Analytical Capacities
 People and Programmatic Capacities
 Financial Capacities
Meeting the Challenge
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Expand location based-strategies to improve experimentation on complex
marine resource management (call it EBM or whatever. . . . )
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Puget Sound
Washington MRCs
Prospective MPAs coast-wide
Existing “special use” areas coast-wide (Sanctuaries; Parks; Refuges)
Utilize NEPA (and state analogs) to compel improved analyses of effects and
tradeoffs on major infrastructure proposals
Build analytical toolbox for quantifying trade-offs
 Scaled IEA initiatives from the California Coastal Current down. . .
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Support expanded coastal mapping efforts for multiple downstream benefits
Explore public-private joint ventures to address public capacity issues
Explore new revenue streams and financing strategies
Other ideas?