Attend Your Public Meeting on Ocean Planning

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

*Additional information for these meetings (specific venues, agenda, etc.) is available at: http://goo.gl/m2OmH

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/m2OmHin 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!

D.C. Film Fest & Working Waterfronts Symposium

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

Aquarium Program Now Available

Hello Ocean Frontiers Community,

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. 

Please share this exciting and educational opportunity with your colleagues today!
www.ocean-frontiers.org/aquarium

Request the film and the formats that best suit your needs by completing this
short form.
 
You can also view the new program here.
Kind regards,
Karen Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions

‘Tis the Season…

And We Wish You a Happy Holiday! 

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  

Honor World Oceans Day & Grow the Ocean Frontiers Campaign

Fisherman to Fisherman Connections

Karen Meyer, producer of Ocean Frontiers and Leesa Cobb, Port Orford Ocean Resource Team with Leah & Phil Gould, Florida Keys Marine Life on their fishing boat.

Leesa Cobb of Port Orford Travels to the Florida Keys with the Filmmakers to Meet with Fishermen to Research Sustainable Fishing Businesses

After an invigorating two days of Ocean Frontiers events in California at the Aquarium of the Pacific, next week we are off to three Ocean Frontiers film premieres on the East Coast — Boston, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Last weekend, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary hosted a special Ocean Frontiers premiere event in Key West.  Billy Causey, who you will remember from the film as the charismatic leader who brought sport fishermen, divers, commercial fishermen, and the public together around protecting the coral reefs in the Keys to ensure shared and sustainable use of the natural resources,  kicked off the premiere, thanking Green Fire for producing a “timely and important film.”

It was a terrific audience of natural resource managers, sport and commercial fisherman, charter boat captains, tropical fish collectors and media who watched the film and then discussed their next challenge: revising the marine zones set in place more than a decade ago. The focus was on how everyone in the audience can reach out to their networks to engage people in this next step in managing the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Intrigued by what she saw in Ocean Frontiers about the Florida Keys, Leesa Cobb, director of the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team, joined us for the trip to meet with a number of fishermen and learn first hand how it is to run a fishing business within a National Marine Sanctuary. Every fisherman we spoke with, without exception, assured Leesa that the Sanctuary benefits their businesses. Here’s a few photos from the Ocean Frontiers Florida Keys trip.

“The Sanctuary protects the marine habitat that produces our fisheries and our income,” relayed Jeff Cramer, a stone crab and lobster fisherman of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “At the beginning we looked at the Sanctuary as a scary thing. Some people sold their boats, thinking it was the end of fishing. But today fishing is the second largest driver of the Keys economy, second only to tourism.”

Steve Leopold, Florida Keys charterboat Captain of 21 years, said, “The Sanctuary Advisory Council is the key. It provides a forum for everyone to provide input, we listen to each other, our advice is incorporated into management decisions, and we develop relationships that are built on trust. As environmental changes arise in our waters, we will be able to address them head on.”

Leah Gould, Florida Keys Marine Life, who supplies the aquarium market with tropical fish and marine life, showed us her operation and took us out on a collection dive. Leah shared, “By including all of the ‘user groups’ at the table you get much better decisions about protecting the resources that we depend on for business. There are always going to be arguments but if everyone is at the table and able to discuss and decide together, we’ll come up with sustainable solutions that benefit everyone.”

Leesa Cobb left with a strong positive impression about the National Marine Sanctuary. “These were some pretty astonishing testimonies that I heard here. I expected to hear pros and cons about living and working within a Sanctuary, but all I heard was how positive and beneficial the Sanctuary is for people who make their living on the water.”

Thanks to the Keys fishermen who took time out of their busy days to meet with us. And special thanks to Leah and Phil for the wonderful day on the water and dinner of stone crab and lobster!

Karen Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions