Public meetings on Ocean Planning are coming to communities across New England in May and June, and we encourage you to attend and invite others! We’re making Ocean Frontiers DVDs available for free for all who wish to share the film with friends and colleagues. Ocean Frontiers is an ideal way to bring people up to speed on ocean planning and let others know of the important opportunity to attend an ocean planning meeting in New England. To receive a free DVD fill out this short form: www.tinyurl.com/ofdvdrequest.

Draft regional ocean planning goals and potential actions will be discussed at these upcoming meetings.  The Northeast Regional Planning Body, a group of state, tribal and federal representatives from New England who are working to implement the National Ocean Policy and address critical New England ocean issues, wants your input on these goals and actions. Additional information on their progress can be found here:  http://northeastoceancouncil.org/regional-planning-body/meetings/

These public meetings will be held in May & June as follows*:

• Portland, ME            Thursday, May 23, 4-7pm
  
• Narragansett, RI      Tuesday, May 28, 4-7pm
  
• Ellsworth, ME          Monday, June 3, 4-7pm
  
• Rockland, ME           Tuesday, June 4, 5:30-8:30pm
  
• Boston, MA               Thursday, June 6, 4-7pm
  
• New Haven, CT        Thursday, June 13, 4-7pm
  
• New Bedford, MA    Monday, June 17, 4-7pm
  
• Gloucester, MA         Tuesday, June 18, 4-7pm
  
• Barnstable, MA        Wednesday, June 19, 4-7pm
  
• Portsmouth, NH      Tuesday, June 25, 4-7pm

These meetings will occur within the period during which the Northeast Regional Planning Body seeks public input regarding draft goals; public comment will be taken at these meetings. These meetings will also be an opportunity to review draft maps and products from initial efforts to gather information on the natural resources and diverse uses of the ocean, including fishing, transportation, energy and infrastructure, aquaculture, and recreation. If you are not available to attend but would like to provide input, please do so by June 28, 2013. The draft goals will be available through the same website <http://goo.gl/m2OmH> in mid-May along with additional details for providing public comment, but for now please hold the dates!

Thank you for attending and/or encouraging others to attend these important meetings!

You can obtain the film for free by filling out our Host a Screening Form or by sending us a message with your address and which lengths you’d like.

We’ve had a tremendous response from agencies, coastal planners and ports around the nation who are using Ocean Frontiers to help build awareness about ocean planning. From Florida to Washington—from state planning departments to port commissioners—people are sharing Ocean Frontiers with staff and colleagues at Brown Bag Lunch Screenings, Strategic Planning meetings, Advancement Trainings and so forth.

Pt. Judith Lighthouse, Rhode Island

Two years in the making, the Obama Administration released the final action plan to implement the National Ocean Policy this week. This “to do” list for the ocean marks a major step forward for healthy oceans, people and communities who depend on the health of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes.

We are in New England, working on new Ocean Frontiers stories and what better way to dive in than to attend the 2nd Northeast Regional Planning Body (RPB) meeting. On Thursday and Friday last week, members of the RPB, which include Federal, Tribal, State, and New England Fishery Management Council representatives, met in Narragansett, Rhode Island. There is extensive information on the website, including the meeting materials. The meeting was videotaped, and the entire meeting will be online soon.

Regional Planning Body

The Regional Planning Body is using a shared leadership approach. Betsy Nicholson, NOAA, is the Federal co-lead, Chief Richard Getchell, Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians is the Tribal co-lead and Grover Fugate, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, is the State co-lead. In addition to the 30 or so members of the RPB attending, there were 60+ people in the audience, observing the day and a half meeting. Like me, most people were impressed with the work that has been completed since the inaugural meeting in November 2012, and the level of commitment and “buy-in” of the planning body members. It was heartening to see the tribal culture and western policy and science intermingle, with people learning something quite new from one another.

Richard Nelson, lobster fisherman, provides public comment.

On the agenda: Identify draft goals for regional ocean planning and ways to receive public input about those draft goals through early summer, timeline for accomplishing initial work, engaging stakeholders as the process moves forward, as well as their operational details. The RPB members grappled with the goals on day one and that evening the co-leads re-worked them and presented the refined goals the next morning.

The draft goals are three-fold:

• Protecting, restoring and maintaining healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems
• Promoting compatibility among current and future ocean uses of ocean and coastal waters
• Effective decision making

For those of you who live in New England, there will be public meetings at the end of May and early June in multiple locations where these draft goals will be presented, and you’ll have the opportunity to give your input. We will keep you posted on dates and locations as soon the information is available. If you would like to hold an Ocean Frontiers screening in your community in advance of these public meetings to help with citizen turnout, please contact us and we will help you set up an event – it’s super easy with our free DVDs and screening toolkit.

Initial outreach to key industry sectors is underway as well as mapping, but it’s not yet clear how the RPB will regularly or formally hear from stakeholders. That was one of their homework assignments. They heard from a number of people during the public comments that people are ready and available to share resources and knowledge with them – universities, scientists and NGOs in particular.

It’s a critical time to shift how we manage the ocean – thank you for all that you do!

Best regards,

Karen Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions

This 22-minute program is condensed from the feature-length “Ocean Frontiers”.

We are excited to announce that this March, Ocean Frontiers will be making appearances at two noteworthy events: the 2013 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital and the 2013 National Working Waterfronts & Waterways Symposium in Tacoma, WA. We hope you will join us and share the invitations with your members, colleagues and friends.

The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital has become one of the world’s largest and most influential showcases of environmental film and a major collaborative cultural event in Washington, D.C.

The National Working Waterfronts & Waterways Symposium will provide a forum for diverse users to meet, address common dilemmas and share solutions. This collaborative problem-solving approach promises to provide unique and innovative approaches to address water access needs, using examples of success from various Pacific Northwest and West Coast communities.

Environmental Film Festival Ocean Frontiers Screening: 


Introduced by: Daniel J. Basta, Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA
Saturday, March 16, 2013, 1:45-3:05pm
National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium
10th & Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC (Metro: Federal Triangle or Smithsonian)
Free and open to the public
(Two other films, The Last Ocean & Planet Ocean will screen along with Ocean Frontiers, starting at 12pm)

Special Working Waterfronts & Waterways Symposium Ocean Frontiers Film Premiere:

Hosted by: West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health, Washington Sea Grant & Green Fire Productions
Monday, March 25, 2013, 6:45-9pm
UW Tacoma, Philip Hall, 1918 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, WA
Tickets – $6, Students $4 and free for Symposium registrants 
Please purchase tickets in advance
Includes reception, film and Q&A with a panel of experts to follow

Moderator: 
Katrina Lassiter, Aquatic Policy Analyst, Department of Natural Resources
Panelists:

• Angie Fredrickson, Seaport Liaison & Research Analyst, Port of Seattle
• Leesa Cobb, Executive Director, Port Orford Ocean Resource Team
• Paul Dye, Marine Program Director, The Nature Conservancy
• Jacque Hostler, Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria

You can see a full list of upcoming Ocean Frontiers events here. And if you’d like to bring the film to your community or workplace, please visit our Host a Screening page.

You can forward this email to a friend below.

Best regards,
Karen Meyer & the Ocean Frontiers Team

We’re delighted to announce that we have just completed a new 22-minute Ocean Frontiers program specifically for aquariums, museums and marine centers. This special program is being used in exhibits, theaters and in workshops around the nation.

In Hawaii the Mokupapapa Discovery Center for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is excited to be offering the program up to ten times a week for its visitors. The Estuarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama plans to screen the film daily in their kiosk starting later this summer. Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium began using the program last week, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Iowa will begin next week and many others are underway! 

In addition, we are thrilled to currently offer the film at no cost to any facility that wishes to use it—and to offer the film in a wide range of formats including BluRay, DVDs, Loops and electronic files. 

Since our inaugural premiere in Port Orford, OR, Ocean Frontiers has
screened across the country from Boston to Los Angeles and Key West to Monterey.
It is with your help—our amazing 365 partners—that we have been able to host with you
140 Ocean Frontiers events for some 10,000 people in 27 states and 7 foreign countries.
From the depths of the oceans, we thank you! 

Happy Holidays, 
Karen Meyer & the Green Fire Productions Team  

]]> http://ocean-frontiers.org/tis-the-season/feed/ 0 http://ocean-frontiers.org/nations-first-regional-ocean-planning-body-meets-national-ocean-policy-workshop-in-portland-or/ http://ocean-frontiers.org/nations-first-regional-ocean-planning-body-meets-national-ocean-policy-workshop-in-portland-or/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:08:50 +0000 greenfireproductions http://ocean-frontiers.org/?p=2291

The Northeast Regional Planning Body at the Big Table (Photo credit: Robin Just)

Last month regional ocean planning got underway in the Northeast United States. The Northeast Regional Planning Body met for the first time in Portland, Maine, on Nov. 19-20. “I’ve often heard the phrase ‘everyone has a seat at the table,’ but this is the first time I’ve seen it,” said National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator John Bullard. His keynote statement pretty well summed up the sense of opportunity voiced by everyone attending the meeting.

We are pleased to report that there was clear agreement at the meeting that they will create an open and transparent process, ensure stakeholders are involved and the critical role of science and data in decision making – all key elements of successful ocean planning as you will recall from Ocean Frontiers.

As established by the (US) National Ocean Policy, the regional planning body (RPB) consists of representatives from federal and state agencies, regional tribes, the New England Fishery Management Council, and an ex officio member from Canada. The RPB was brought together to design the process for the first regional ocean plan to be developed in the United States.

“This is the first time that all of these representatives from various levels of the government have gotten together to begin this work,” said John Weber, the ocean planning director for the Northeast Regional Ocean Council. The fact that this collaboration is taking place, which allows for transparency as all sides are present, is looking promising for the future of our oceans and the economies that rely on them. As reported by E&E News, the regional planning body will strive to create ocean plans that reach across state and federal boundaries in an effort to reduce conflicts among fishing, offshore energy, shipping, conservation and recreation, as more users make demands on the sea.

“What it means for us is greater predictability, lower risk, lower cost. In our view, when you can identify the right places to do ocean energy, you can do everything better — you can do conservation better and can do energy development better,” said Markian Melnyk, president of Atlantic Grid Development, a group working on a proposal for a 300-mile offshore transmission network in the mid-Atlantic.

“It doesn’t have to be a fight over siting; this type of collaborative siting work helps makes it more about science and more about sound economics than about fighting,” he added.

Effective ocean planning portal tools have been launched online at by Northeast and mid-Atlantic groups. The portal is a place for compiled data and interactive maps, which allows all different types of ocean users to view ocean features such as fishing grounds, critical habitat, shipping corridors and even wind speeds. View one of the portals here.

“It is a lot easier to look at a variety of maps than to try to look through [environmental impact statement] reports,” said Tony MacDonald, Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University director, who has helped lead these effort. “You can see areas where conflicts might be and compatibilities might be. At the end of this discussion, it should put everybody on the same base line and hopefully screen out conflicts earlier in the process.”

As this was the RPB’s first meeting, there is much work to be done, however this first step is huge and worth congratulating. To learn more about the RPB and its inaugural meeting check out Open Channels blog post here.

LEARN MORE, TAKE ACTION: National Ocean Policy Briefing 

On Thursday, December 13th, 6-9pm, at the Leftbank Annex (101 North Weidler St., Portland, OR) you are invited to a free briefing on the National Ocean Policy and ocean conservation efforts in Oregon—a great way to learn how to take action in support of our oceans and coasts!

Guests attending will include the Oregon Governor’s office and Congressional staff. Presentations from Surfrider, Our Ocean, American Littoral Society will be given as well as a screening of excerpts from  Ocean Frontiers. Sandwiches and refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP here.

Thanks for all you do!

Karen Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions

At the State Department for the "Ocean Frontiers" Presentation, with Sean Cosgrove, Conservation Law Foundation, Karen Meyer, Green Fire Productions and Rebecca Owen, US Department of State.

US Department of State

It was an honor to be invited to screen Ocean Frontiers for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC earlier this month. Several key players attended including Ambassador David Balton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries. The State Department was inspired by the film and is interested to share the stories internationally to put a spotlight on how industries, governments and citizens can collaborate and find solutions to pressing ocean issues.

Monterey Premiere

More than 350 people from the Monterey Bay area filled the sumptuous, historic Golden State Theatre for the Monterey premiere of Ocean Frontiers as we kicked-off the BLUE Ocean Film Festival.

The mayors of Monterey, Watsonville and Marina opened the event and spoke passionately about how their coastal and inland communities depend on a healthy ocean. After the film, representatives from agriculture, commercial fishing, and hospitality discussed what their industries are doing to be better stewards of the ocean.

Congressman Sam Farr joined us at the reception where we enjoyed sustainable seafood and wine from the Central Coast. An eight-year old attending with his parents said, “We HAVE to do all we can to preserve the ocean so my kids can eat great ceviche like this!” Indeed. Thanks go to the 21 organizations representing business, recreation, fishing, agriculture, conservation, education and the community who hosted this amazing community ocean stewardship event.

What You Can Do

We are hearing from educators across the country who are now using the new Discussion Guides in their classrooms with Ocean Frontiers. Be sure to get your free DVD and Discussion Guide or share with your educator friends. Check out upcoming events, including opening night at the American Conservation Film Festival. And let us know if you’d like to share Ocean Frontiers with your colleagues and friends, it’s free and we’ve made it super easy with the Screening Toolkit.

Best regards,
Karen Meyer & the Ocean Frontiers Team

Last week had many people heading back to school, both students and teachers alike, and we hope you’ll find this update quite timely. We are excited to announce that Discussion/Study Guides for the Ocean Frontiers film are now available for educators at the middle/high school and university levels.

The university-level Discussion Guide was developed by the National Sea Grant Law Center with the assistance of Vermont Law School Environmental Law Society. This Discussion Guide was developed to help professors incorporate Ocean Frontiers into the classroom.  The Sea Grant Law Center describes Ocean Frontiers as “an ideal communication tool to help audiences understand key principles of ecosystem-based management and coastal and marine spatial planning. These complex topics come to life and are easy to grasp through the stories and people featured in Ocean Frontiers.”

The Educator’s Resource Guide for middle/high school teachers was produced by the  Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Colorado Ocean Coalition member Emily Kellagher. This Educator’s Guide is designed to help teachers blend the four stories within Ocean Frontiers into their curriculum and expose students to positive examples of conservation and complementary science concepts.

To download the Guides, simply visit: www.ocean-frontiers.org/discussion-guides. Need an Ocean Frontiers DVD to accompany your Discussion Guide? Please fill out the Host A Screening form, and we’ll send you one for free along with other helpful materials. Please share the news with ocean educators.

 Special Upcoming Premieres in California:

Bay Area Film Premiere – Thursday, September 13, 2012
In San Francisco at the Aquarium of the Bay, in partnership with the San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival. Includes reception and post-film Q & A. For more info: http://www.oceanfilmfest.org/

Monterey Community Premiere – Sunday, September 23, 2012
More than 20 organizations representing the region’s agriculture, recreation, conservation, business, education, and community are co-hosting this special event. Elected leaders will welcome the audience. The film and post-film Q & A will be followed by a reception featuring sustainable seafood and wine from the Central Coast. For more info: http://ocean-frontiers.org/monterey/

Cheers,
Karen Anspacher-Meyer and the Ocean Frontiers Team