How Sick is the Ocean?

NRPB Takes Temperature

by Laurie Schreiber

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Northeast Regional Planning Body (NRPB) remains on track to come up with a plan to better protect the ocean and coast.

NRPB was launched in November 2012, in response to a 2010 presidential executive order to establish a national ocean policy.

“In each work group meeting, the impact of climate change, and what trends might look like, are important considerations,” said Nick Napoli, Ocean Planning Project Manager at the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC), who spoke during an Aug. 27 update of the NRPB’s activities.

According to NRPB’s mission statement, “The ocean and the livelihoods it supports are vital to New England. People in New England greatly value our ocean heritage and are seeking basic needs from the ocean—jobs, food, energy, and recreation, among others—in new and increasingly complex ways. At the same time, environmental changes are affecting the health of the ocean and its creatures. Ocean planning is a way to meet these challenges. Government agencies and stakeholders can work together to anticipate needs, set priorities, and make decisions from a regional perspective.”

NRPB (neoceanplanning.org) is overseeing three activities—data gathering and sector engagement, agency coordination, and communications and outreach. NRPB aims to characterize the ecosystem, economy and cultural resources with baseline data and maps, and other information; to support existing restoration and conservation programs; to better coordinate such programs; and to develop a regional ocean science plan.

On June 25-26, the NRPB held its fourth public workshop and meeting in the Northeast.

According to the meeting summary, approximately 125 participants from tribes, federal and state agencies, industry groups, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and interested citizens attended the workshop.

“Participants provided input on natural resource assessments that will inform future ocean planning work under the RPB’s Healthy Ocean and Coastal Ecosystems goal,” the summary says.

Napoli briefed participants on the work completed to date, which involves characterizing the resource and interagency coordination.

“The initial focus of the resource characterization and the related conversations about inter-agency coordination and data needs are focused on permitting and review of potential energy/infrastructure, aquaculture, and sand and gravel projects,” the summary says.

Objectives include characterizing the abundance and distribution of marine mammals, sea turtles, bird, and fish; and characterizing the ecosystem, economy, and cultural resources.

During the Aug. 27 update, Napoli said NRPB has been dealing with the issue of prioritization.

Among avian species under study, for example, “We discussed a range of criteria to use to filter species,” including conservation and protection status, potential vulnerability related to specific activities, and amount of data available.

The issue is complex, he said, given the number and interaction of environmental and human-made variables that affect every consideration. Therefore, he said, the team’s approach is first to develop distribution and abundance information, and habitat information, using data available from a variety of governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations. For example, a number of sea life trawl surveys are conducted onshore and offshore by various state and federal agencies.

The NRPB has established a subcommittee to conduct additional ecological assessments, with the focus on identifying important ecological areas and measuring ecosystem health.

The NRPB is discussing inter-jurisdictional coordination and opportunities to enhance the regulatory process through agency cooperation.

NPRB will hold at least one public meeting in each state, in early to mid-October. A regional public forum will also be scheduled, likely in late October. The entire NPRB will meet Nov. 13-14 in Portsmouth, N.H.