The Northeast Regional Ocean Council today held a virtual meeting in which the group provided an update on funding status, received partner updates, and reviewed draft work plans on ocean planning; diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice; coastal hazards and resilience; and ocean and coastal ecosystem health.
NROC’s Ocean Planning Committee discussed its Draft 2022-2023 Work Plan that identifies the following strategies to support and coordinate ocean planning:
- Provide a regional forum for a broad range of interests to engage in and coordinate across offshore planning and management issues
- Identify and implement best practices for environmental review, permitting, and management of ocean uses
- Engage stakeholders in the development of peer-reviewed geospatial data products characterizing human activities and ecological and cultural resources and their change over time
- With partners, host and foster the Regional Wildlife Science Entity
- Determine near and long-term capacity and funding needs to support Ocean Planning Committee activities
As to best practices, the work plan notes that they refer to activities that can be implemented in ocean permitting and management processes that enhance stakeholder engagement, agency and interjurisdictional coordination, the use of data and information, and/or regulatory pre-application processes. It further states that the Ocean Planning Committee will seek public input before finalizing the best practices, and when final will communicate the best practices to regulators, planners, and the public, as well as with the White House’s Ocean Policy Committee.
Additionally, an inventory of best practices already being implemented for various management activities, regulatory processes, and ocean uses will initially focus on offshore wind, aquaculture, cables and pipelines, and marine transportation and navigation.
