Month: January 2012

Ocean Frontiers Premieres in Port Orford, Oregon – Feb 11th 2012

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Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship will launch its national tour at a special event with Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, First Lady Cylvia Hayes, and a number of coastal leaders in Port Orford, Oregon on February 11 at the Savoy Theatre. Port Orford is featured in the film as a place where a local community has mobilized to manage and conserve ocean resources for today and for generations to come.

Green Fire Productions Executive Director and producer of Ocean Frontiers’ Karen Meyer stated, “We are excited to present the solution-oriented, bi-partisan stories of Ocean Frontiers to the American public. This documentary clearly conveys that people across the country want to work together to sustain their coastal and ocean economies that depend on a healthy ocean.”

Ocean Frontiers takes us on an inspiring, 80-minute voyage to seaports and watersheds across the country—from the busy shipping lanes of Boston Harbor to the small fishing community of Port Orford, Oregon; from the coral reefs in the Florida Keys, to the nation’s premier seafood nursery in the Mississippi Delta and the cornfields of Iowa. Here we meet an intermingling of unlikely allies, of industrial shippers and whale biologists, pig farmers and wetland ecologists, sport and commercial fishermen and snorkelers, and many more, all of them embarking on a new course of cooperation.

Leesa Cobb, Executive Director of the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team stated, “We are working hard to ensure our natural resource-based community will thrive into the future, and this is only possible with a healthy coastal environment that provides the jobs that support this community. We are proud to be featured in the film, and to co-host the world premiere of Ocean Frontiers together with twelve local organizations plus our elected local and state leaders.”

First Lady Cylvia Hayes said, “The new approaches to ocean management through the national ocean policy recognize and encourage state and regional ocean leadership – from the Gulf of Mexico to New England, from the Florida Keys to the West coast.”

Hayes added, “Oregon is a leader in innovative approaches to ocean and coastal management. Oregon’s Territorial Sea Plan and the West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health put us on the path to promote our natural resources industries in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable.”

Governor Kitzhaber and First Lady Hayes will be joined by Port Orford Mayor Jim Auborn, Curry County Commissioner David Itzen, and Oregon State Representatives Wayne Krieger (R-Gold Beach) and Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) to celebrate the official premiere of Ocean Frontiers.

Oregon’s first two marine reserves began operating earlier this year, and they will provide important information about the economic and ecological effects of this new management tool. State Representative Wayne Krieger, a strong supporter of Port Orford’s groundbreaking ecosystem-based work was instrumental in securing the funds for the new Redfish Rocks science facility from the Oregon Legislature. He recently stated, “The benefit of the marine reserve will be in the science that will help us better manage our ocean resources.”

Film Premiere:
Saturday, February 11, 2012, 5:00-7:00pm at the Savoy Theatre. Doors open 4:30pm.
Tickets cost $10. Must purchase tickets online at: www.oceanfrontiersportorford.eventbrite.com

Reception to Follow:
7:30pm at the Community Building (21+ only)

Sunday Matinee Tickets also Available:
Sunday, February 12, 2012, 4:00-6:00pm at the Savoy Theatre.
Tickets cost $5. Purchase at door or online at: www.oceanfrontiersportorford.eventbrite.com

Event Presented By:
Port Orford Ocean Resource Team, City of Port Orford, South Coast Watersheds Council, Port Orford Sustainable Seafood, Redfish Rocks Community Team, Friends of Elk River, Cape Blanco Challenge, Elk River Land Trust, Port Orford Main Street Revitalization Association, Sustainable Land Development Initiative, Ocean Mountain Ranch, Surfrider Foundation & Green Fire Productions.

Successful Film Outreach at Wild & Scenic Film Festival

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Filmmaker Karen Meyer at Wild & Scenic Film Fest, 2012

Ocean Frontiers Part 3 & 4 screened this past weekend at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, California. Over 300 festival goers viewed Ocean Frontiers on two different days.

“Yes!” “That’s right.” “Wow!” These positive reactions reverberated throughout the audience on Sunday as Mary Wahl, a 4th generation Oregon rancher, stated in Ocean Frontiers “We needed to bury that tired, old idea that loggers and fishing people, that ranchers and environmentalists were on different sides. Those days are sort of over. It’s clear that people from all these different arenas can come together and make good things happen, and that’s what’s going on here.”

After the film a number of people including a professor of agriculture from Iowa, a California eco-consultant and several citizens from communities across California inquired about how to premiere Ocean Frontiers in their community. They were excited to learn that Green Fire Productions has made it easy for people to host premieres in their communities with our free, online step-by-step Screening Toolkit and online Host-a-Screening form at ocean-frontiers.org/host-a-screening.

Showcasing success stories that lead by example and inspire is not the only thing Green Fire Productions’ filmmakers Karen Anspacher-Meyer and Ralf Meyer did with Ocean Frontiers. They also crafted and depicted the stories with a bipartisan tone to allow Ocean Frontiers to speak to and educate across a broad set of viewers, from the everyday ocean users to scientists; from farmers to policy-makers; and from fisherman to environmentalists.

Justin Malan, a consultant for an array of non-profits in California said, “Thank you,” to filmmaker Karen Meyer after the film ended, “for making these issues so accessible and for crafting the stories so well.”

Administration Releases Plans to Implement Better, More Streamlined Management of Our Nation’s Oceans, Coasts and Great Lakes – Give Your Input!

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Our nation has long relied on the abundance of resources, economic value and natural beauty of our ocean and coasts. In 2007, shore-adjacent communities were home to 108.3 million people, 48.6 million jobs and contributed $5.7 trillion to the U.S. economy.[1]

Photo: Green Fire Productions

As populations rise and demands of our oceans and coasts increase, more holistic and streamlined management of our ocean and coastal resources are imperative.

Currently, waterways are managed by more than 20 federal agencies and are subject to more than 140 different laws and regulations. In addition, there are local and state governments regulations—making the availability of information and decision-making processes in regard to ocean and coastal issues inefficient and ineffective.

In 2010, the Obama Administration released the first ever National Ocean Policy to protect, maintain and restore our nation’s oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. The policy creates a framework under which all ocean resource management will take place to reduce duplicating efforts or working at cross-purposes, ultimately saving tax payer dollars and increasing transparency.

Last week, the administration released a draft implementation plan—a giant step forward in advancing the National Ocean Policy. The Draft Implementation Plan reflects over two years worth of hard work, investment and commitment made by state governments, commercial and industrial ocean users, universities and scientists, 25 federal agencies and departments and tens of thousands of citizens across the country to move our oceans toward better ocean management.

Photo: Green Fire Productions

This plan provides all ocean users a great opportunity to have their voices heard and to ensure that implementation of the National Ocean Policy encompasses the views and ideas of fishermen, scientists, shipping companies and port managers, energy developers, conservationists and those that live, work and play in coastal communities.

The administration is accepting public comment on the plans until February 27th. Please, make your voice heard and click here to view and comment on the National Ocean Policy Draft Implementation Plan.

 

 

 

[1] National Ocean Economics Program. (2009). State of the Ocean and Coastal Economies, p.6, http://www.oceaneconomics.org/NationalReport/.