Mid-Atlantic states recently collaborated with representatives of tribes, eight federal agencies, and a fisheries council to produce a draft of a unique ocean planning document for their region of the Atlantic.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body, as the group is called, includes representatives of ECOS member agencies in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. New York was represented by its ECOS member, Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos. Maryland’s representatives to the group were from the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
The 134-Page Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan establishes “framework goals,” including enhanced regulatory coordination, research, and data sharing to promote sustainable use of marine resources in the region. It also makes a number of voluntary policy recommendations to aid the partner agencies in realizing the framework goals.
This is the first plan of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic and the second to stem from a regional framework established in President Obama’s 2010 National Ocean Policy. The New England states established the first regional ocean plan in May.
