The Northeast Regional Planning Body today announced that that it will convene the following events in the coming months:
- Ecosystem-Based Management Workshop in Durham, NH (Wednesday, 4/8)
- Stakeholder Forum in Salem, MA (Tuesday, 5/12)
- Formal RPB Meeting on June 3-4 (location TBD)
The workshop is intended to help establish a framework and context for considering existing ocean planning projects and activities and define immediate and long-term next steps. In considering options to address in the Northeast ocean plan at its last formal meeting in November 2014, rather than explore options for an ecosystem-based approach to identifying important ecological areas, the RPB instead decided to establish a work group to explore options for an adaptive ecosystem-based approach to managing healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems.
The purpose of the stakeholder forum will be to review progress on the use of marine life and ocean use data and regulatory coordination, while the purpose of the RPB meeting will be to review revised products and discuss future work for the RPB.
Established in 2012 pursuant to the National Ocean Policy Executive Order, the NortheastRPB was formed to develop a coastal and marine plan for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
