On Monday, Nov. 19^th, the inaugural meeting of the Northeast Regional Planning Body will take place in Portland, Maine. The Regional Planning Body (RPB) includes members from six New England states, 10 tribes and 10 federal agencies or departments and the New England Fishery Management Council. The RPB is tasked with convening a public process to develop a regional ocean plan for New England’s federal ocean waters.

The New England Ocean Action Network (NEOAN) is a regional network of ocean user groups, conservationists, recreational users and community advocates who have joined together to work as stakeholders in the regional ocean planning process to help ensure the growth of our region’s coastal and maritime economy, restore and protect ocean and coastal ecosystems, and recognize and acknowledge New England’s unique maritime heritage. You can learn more about NEOAN at http://newenglandoceanaction.org/.

NEOAN member, Captain Richard Nelson, a lobsterman from Friendship, Maine, offers these comments in advance of the start of the regional planning process:

“Why should a lobsterman from Maine care about such things? The obvious answers, of course, are that the ocean is our workplace, our cultural heritage, and economically sustains us and our extended communities as it has for generations. Those of us who work on the ocean day to day live with the effects of small changes in climate and observe changes in habitat, all of which may be evident in our catch rates or how species progress through seasonal cycles. We are also solely dependent on a healthy resource that must be managed intelligently and effectively while remaining accessible to us.

The calls for ecosystem-based management, protection and restoration of important habitat areas as well as protection of wildlife and endangered species are all important goals that affect the sustainability and economics of our fisheries and our daily lives.

As a member of NEOAN and as NEOAN’s spokesperson today, New England’s coasts and ocean are among New England’s greatest economic, environmental, and cultural assets and we are looking forward to being part of this effort to manage them responsibly and sustainably. This week ocean users from along the coast of New England will work together to develop a science-based process for the sustainable use of our coasts and ocean.

The New England Ocean Action Network (NEOAN) is a diverse network of organizations which includes fishermen and fishing interests, recreational groups, businesses, conservation groups and industries working together to promote new approaches to ocean management in our region based on collaboration, cooperation, and sound science. NEOAN supports the full implementation of the National Ocean Policy and the development of a regional ocean plan in New England.

The National Ocean Policy rightly acknowledges the need for a planning process that “operates through an open and transparent approach that encourages broad public participation.” We believe that creating a comprehensive regional use plan for our ocean and coasts has the potential to minimize user conflicts in an increasingly crowded ocean, protect the economic value of New England’s fisheries and other current uses, anticipate and address the impacts of climate change and restore the health of our coastal and marine ecosystems.

In order for that potential to be realized, the regional ocean plan needs to be based on the three pillars of the National Ocean Policy: a decision-making process which uses the best available science, data and knowledge; the cooperation and collaboration of all relative federal and state agencies and the tribes; and, a public process which is open, transparent and gives all ocean users a meaningful opportunity to share their knowledge and to shape the plan as it develops.

In the spirit of cooperation and support for an effective and efficient regional planning process we encourage you to seek NEOAN as a partner and ally. We look forward to working with the Northeast Regional Planning body and members to help shape a regional ocean plan for the future of our ocean, coasts, economy and communities.”

National Ocean Policy Regional Ocean Planning Regional Planning Body