On September 18, 2006 the Governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health. The Agreement launched a new, proactive regional collaboration to protect and manage the ocean and coastal resources along the entire West Coast, as called for in the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission.
The Agreement goals include:
-Clean coastal waters and beaches
-Healthy ocean and coastal habitats
-Effective ecosystem-based management
-Reduced impacts of offshore development
-Increased ocean awareness and literacy among the region’s citizens
-Expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research, and monitoring
-Sustainable economic development of coastal communities
It also underscores the importance of managing activities that affect our oceans on an ecosystem basis. That is, managing human activities and their impact on ocean resources in a way that accounts for the relationships among all ecosystem components, including people and other species and the environment in which we all live.
Since being established it helps direct staff in each state to take certain immediate actions and support the development of more extensive action plans. Early on, each state prepared a discussion paper to guide public input on actions for consideration during development of the action plan and sponsored a series of meetings to obtain public and stakeholder input on the Agreement. This draft Action Plan was released on October 19, 2007 and was finalized in July 2008. For more information you can link to http://westcoastoceans.gov/.
The Agreement goals include:
-Clean coastal waters and beaches
-Healthy ocean and coastal habitats
-Effective ecosystem-based management
-Reduced impacts of offshore development
-Increased ocean awareness and literacy among the region’s citizens
-Expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research, and monitoring
-Sustainable economic development of coastal communities
It also underscores the importance of managing activities that affect our oceans on an ecosystem basis. That is, managing human activities and their impact on ocean resources in a way that accounts for the relationships among all ecosystem components, including people and other species and the environment in which we all live.
Since being established it helps direct staff in each state to take certain immediate actions and support the development of more extensive action plans. Early on, each state prepared a discussion paper to guide public input on actions for consideration during development of the action plan and sponsored a series of meetings to obtain public and stakeholder input on the Agreement. This draft Action Plan was released on October 19, 2007 and was finalized in July 2008. For more information you can link to http://westcoastoceans.gov/.
To carry out the Action Plan, the states created Action Coordination Teams (ACTs), charged with ensuring tri-state communication and collaboration while accomplishing specific actions. In May 2009, these teams finished drafting work plans detailing the tasks, timelines, and resources required to fulfill their charge. The work plans were released for public comment and are now available at http://westcoastoceans.gov/teams/ . At the present time, there are ten functioning ACTs.
On July 19, 2010, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes. That Executive Order adopted the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force to direct federal agencies to take appropriate steps to implement them. Among those steps is supporting Regional Ocean Partnerships (ROPs) and advancing regional coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) approaches around the United States.
On July 19, 2010, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes. That Executive Order adopted the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force to direct federal agencies to take appropriate steps to implement them. Among those steps is supporting Regional Ocean Partnerships (ROPs) and advancing regional coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) approaches around the United States.
NOAA Federal Funding Opportunity
The West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health (WCGA) recently developed a scoping document in preparation for recent workshops that took place earlier this month Washingtin, Oregon, and California to help inform the development of a proposal in response to the Regional Ocean Partnerships Funding Program (ROPFP) notice for Regional Ocean Partnership priorities and coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) initiatives.
The purpose of the scoping document is to provide participants with a common starting point for discussions at these workshops and provide guidance for formulating project ideas that participants may wish to recommend for inclusion in the West Coast proposal.
How to submit ideas
Although the Washington workshop has already taken place there are still ways to get your input heard!
You can provide general comments or ideas via the WCGA website http://www.westcoastoceans.gov up until December 3, 2010 either by:
-Emailing comments@westcoastoceans.gov to share general comments that will be posted online.
-Submitting a general idea that may help shape the proposal in 500 words or less. Just go to http://westcoastoceans.gov/contact/ and fill in the text box per the website instructions.
OR
-Submitting specific detailed project ideas for inclusion in the West Coast proposal by November 19, 2010, via an online application tool at http://www.westcoastoceans.gov; See Appendix B for the information that will be required to submit your idea. All proposals for federal funding are required to be submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by December 10, 2010.
Please Note: Your comment, name, and date of posting will be available for the general public to read (email addresses or phone number will not be published).
