Nation’s First Regional Ocean Planning Body Meets & National Ocean Policy Workshop

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 

Pa
Pacific City, OR — A proposed wave energy site in Oregon (Photo credit: Nastassja Pace) 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Frontiers World Premiere a Big Success

From left: Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, filmmaker Karen Meyer and First Lady Cylvia Hayes in Port Orford, Oregon, for Ocean Frontiers premiere.

 

Whether you were in Port Orford for the world premiere of Ocean Frontiers or not, you can now watch the 6-minute video with highlights from the entire weekend. Hear remarks from Oregon Governor Kitzhaber and First Lady Hayes  about ocean stewardship and their kickoff for Ocean Frontiers. Click on the image to watch the video.

Join us this Wednesday, March 7th at 7pm for the Portland, Oregon, Ocean Frontiers premiere at the Hollywood Theatre. Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes will attend and speak about her passion for the ocean and her work on ocean health. Tickets can be purchased here.

Premieres are set for Los Angeles, Boston, Rhode Island, New Jersey and elsewhere across the country, check here for the most up-to-date schedule.

We encourage you to share Ocean Frontiers with others who may want to host an event, and we’ve made it easy for anyone to do this – just complete the Host a Screening form and we’ll get you started!

You can help build support for ocean stewardship by writing your members of Congress and letting them know you support the collaborative, science-based efforts featured in Ocean Frontiers. Write your letter today.

Thanks for all you do!

Karen Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions

 

 

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

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

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.”

Sneak Preview in Astoria, Oregon Following TSPWG Meeting


Did you know Oregon is a leader in wave energy? And that there are three marine reserve sites pending implementation along Oregon’s coast? What does this mean to Oregonians and our beautiful, rich coastline—to our ocean viewers and surfers, our fisherman and businesses, our tribes and our state agencies?

On December 15th and 16th, 2011, you can join Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory (OPAC) and the Territorial Sea Working Group (TSPWG)—representing a range of Oregon ocean stakeholders—for the unveiling of Oregon’s territorial sea preliminary draft maps, as well as the partake in public comments, discuss planning options for our energy future, and hear the latest on the marine reserve process.

An Ocean Frontiers film sneak preview will follow the Territorial Sea Plan Working Group Meeting on Thursday December 15th, 2011, at 6PM; located at the Fort George Brewery (Lovell Taproom), Astoria, Oregon—hosted by Clatsop County.

Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Age in Ocean Stewardship is Green Fire Productions latest film and outreach campaign—intended to inspire, engage and mobilize communities around the nation to better care for the ocean both, locally and regionally, and to show support for the National Ocean Policy.

Coinciding with the sneak premiere of Ocean Frontiers, Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association (OCZMA) will premiere their film: Oregon’s Ocean Fisheries: A Conservation Story.

To learn about Oregon’s TSPWG and OPAC, and to make your voice heard in this important process, go to www.oregon.gov/LCD/OPAC/.

To read more on wave energy and how Oregon is playing a vital role in shaping the future of it, go to www.oregonwave.org/.