The Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) today held a virtual meeting in which updates were provided on partner activities, congressional priorities, funding, and potential projects. As further described below, the meeting included an update on the Biden administration’s development of a Sustainable Ocean Plan for federal waters (formal solicitation for external input expect this spring/summer).
Partner Activities
Federal Interagency Ocean Policy Committee
The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy’s Principal Asst. Director for Oceans and Environment and Ocean Policy Committee Executive Director Deerin Babb-Brott provided an update on Ocean Policy Committee (Committee) activities.
Babb-Brott noted the launch of a new website for the Committee and the Committee’s focus on leveraging regional work and products to inform national agency practices, and concentrating on data and decision-making tools to support regional priorities, developing ocean-climate solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change (in part noting emissions reduction potential of green shipping, blue carbon, and ocean renewables), supporting regional interests by connecting investment in and application of applied ocean science and technology to management needs (citing strong support for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program), and advancing sustainable ocean economies.
As to the latter, Babb-Brott noted the U.S. becoming a member of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) and related efforts to develop a National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (National Strategy) as part of the commitment to develop a Sustainable Ocean Plan for all federal waters by 2026. He said that the Committee this spring/summer will solicit comment on the National Strategy through a Federal Register notice and engage parties including tribes, ocean stakeholders, and regional entities (including regional ocean partnerships and fishery management councils) to help scope an approach that advances regional interests.
Babb-Brott said that the National Strategy to be developed this year will inform an Implementation Plan to be developed in 2023, describing the process as a national conversation with a regional component that will ultimately describe actions the United States is taking and/or will take to achieve a sustainable ocean economy. Noting that a “sustainable ocean economy” has been described by the Ocean Panel by themes of ocean health, wealth, knowledge, equity, and finance (and associated outcomes), he provided the following as non-exhaustive examples of what such an economy could look like:
- Sustainable Ocean Energy: Ocean-based renewable energy is fast-growing and on the path to becoming a leading source of energy for the world
- Sustainable New Ocean Industries: Innovation and investments in new ocean industries have boosted environmentally responsible and inclusive economic growth
- Protect and Restore Marine and Coastal Ecosystems: Marine and coastal ecosystems are healthy, resilient and productive, and nature-based solutions are key elements in developing coastal infrastructure
In discussing the effort, Babb-Brott said that a new reimagining and planning process is not necessary, but rather called it an opportunity for NROC to put its interests forward, leverage work already being done, and support already-defined regional priorities and actions to help accomplish NROC objectives.
Regional/Federal
In addition to the White House update, highlighted regional efforts included the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Intergovernmental Task Force on Offshore Wind (including upcoming Gulf of Maine Task Force meeting), BOEM development of guidance for fisheries mitigation, NOAA’s Seascape project, and NROC’s Regional Living Shoreline project, with federal updates focused on actions at FEMA (climate training), CEQ (climate/EJ screening tool), Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (community planning and resilience), and ecosystem restoration grants through the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation that relate to the America the Beautiful 30×30 conservation effort.
State
State partners from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island provided a review of ongoing and recent activities, including development of a research plan for a proposed offshore wind floating research array and formation of a Blue Carbon Network (Maine), establishment of a legislative commission to study offshore wind and port development (New Hampshire), the procurement of 3,200 MW of offshore wind (Massachusetts), and ongoing review of proposed offshore wind projects (Massachusetts and Rhode Island).
Additional updates were provided by the New England Sea Grant Consortium, Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, and the Gulf of Maine Council.
Congressional Priorities
NROC reviewed legislation of interest including the Regional Ocean Partnership authorization bill, Living Shorelines Act, Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, National Ocean Exploration Act, Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, and Coastal Fellowships Act. On the Regional Ocean Partnership bill, NROC voiced hope that it would move soon (passed last summer by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee), calling it important for the sustainability of the regional ocean partnership program and a mechanism for new partnerships in regions where they do not currently exist.
Funding
Highlighted funding opportunities included Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocations for regional ocean partnerships and data sharing ($56M), coastal zone management grants ($207M), National Estuarine Research Reserve System ($77M), National Coastal Resilience Fund ($492M), community-based restoration grants ($491M), fish passage ($400M), NOAA mapping, observations, and modeling ($492M), tribal climate resilience ($216M), National Estuary Programs ($900K per NEP/year), Long Island Sound Study ($106M), and Southeast New England Program ($15M).
With the infusion of new funding and anticipation of expanded activities, NROC noted the hiring of its first-ever Executive Director, saying the organization is “moving into new territory” as it awaits the approval of IIJA-related spend plans from Congress.
Potential Projects
Potential projects for infrastructure law funding that are being proposed to the NROC Executive Committee and that were reviewed during the meeting include the following:
- Establishment of a water level sensor community of practice in New England, advancing living shorelines in New England
- Roundtable on approaches for integrating updated sea level rise projections into planning tools and policies
- Updating portal data on coastal vegetation and blue carbon
- Developing a regional ocean and coastal acidification monitoring system
- Conducting comprehensive seafloor mapping in a high priority, 3-state ocean planning area of the Gulf of Maine
- Identifying high priority areas and an acquisition plan for augmenting high-resolution multibeam echosounder bathymetry across the Northeast Shelf to facilitate products for use in habitat identification and ocean planning
- Identifying high priority areas for seafloor characterization within the Gulf of Maine and conducting 1-3 directed seafloor surveys to assist with regional management goals (saying it would help identify areas that need more attention or to be set aside from ocean development activities)
- Updating and enhancing the data portal map interfaces, website, data services, and IT infrastructure
- Updating marine life data on the portal
- Reorganizing and updating commercial fishing data on the portal
NROC is a regional ocean partnership formed in 2005 by the Governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut to provide a voluntary forum for states and federal partners to coordinate and collaborate on the development of goals and priorities and address regional coastal and ocean management challenges with creative solutions that support balanced uses and conservation of the Northeast’s ocean and coastal resources.
