Offshore wind farms, liquefied natural gas pipelines, fiber-optic cables, desalination plants, aquaculture, commercial fishermen, and others all require the use of the ocean. As a result, coastal resource managers have to make decisions that take into account natural resource, ecological, and economic trade-offs in order to reduce conflicts and optimize marine management.
Many coastal managers are interested in ways to better understand, visualize, and communicate with stakeholders about trade-offs in ocean management. The cover story of this edition of Coastal Services looks at new tools being developed for this purpose in Massachusetts.
These tools—two of many being developed around the country—could help analyze the trade-offs required for multiple ocean users and aid coastal managers with decision-making for all ocean-based services.
While under the best of circumstances these types of tools can’t tell resource managers what decisions they should make, they may assist managers in designing and conducting the stakeholder process and leading talks that clearly communicate trade-offs.
Also in this edition of Coastal Services, our writers look at a new regional tsunami portal for the Pacific Northwest that displays coastal evacuation zones and allows users to search by street address to determine if they’re in an inundation zone. The portal can also be accessed by free smartphone apps for the iPhone and Android, making it easy for users to plan ahead to evacuate in the event of a distant tsunami.
Articles in this edition also look at an Alabama birding trail that is showing how local business interests, scientists, and wildlife organizations can partner to promote healthy ecosystems while stimulating the tourism industry, and how the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill inspired a stewardship program for New York educators focused on wetland loss and restoration.
We are continuing to move forward with the integration of NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and the Coastal Services Center. One visible way we are managing (and learning) together is through implementing the Regional Ocean Partnership Funding Program grants through a collaborative approach.
More exciting news on the integration will be coming in the months ahead.
Jeff Payne, Acting Director
