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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 11
July 2008
MA passes first-ever ocean management bill
BOSTON, MA – After several years of trying, including a failed attempt in 2007, the Massachusetts Legislature on May 22 passed the Massachusetts Oceans Act of 2008.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed the first-in-the-nation mandate to create a comprehensive state waters oceans management plan on May 28.
“This law will protect our vital natural resources and balance traditional (uses) with new ones such as renewable energy that are also important to our future,” Patrick said.
The legislation was endorsed by a variety of organizations, including the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a collaboration between the US Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission, which both issued reports calling for a national strategy for coordinating ocean-related policies and activities.
“Today, there are hundreds of competing uses for coastal areas from transportation to energy to fishing to recreation,” said commission co-chair Leon Panetta. “This is truly landmark legislation for the nation.”
The bill was spearheaded by state Sen. Bob O’Leary, who represents Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. The legislation sets a deadline of Dec. 31, 2009 for final promulgation of the ocean plan.
Components
The new law:
Requires the development of a comprehensive, science-based plan “to assure long-term protection and sustainable use of a resource (state waters) that has been the historical bedrock of Massachusetts industry and culture;”
Creates a 17-member ocean advisory commission to provide advice to the secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as the agency develops the plan;
Establishes an ocean science advisory council comprised of nine scientists who have “expertise in marine sciences and data management;”
Preserves the jurisdiction of the state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) by explicitly stating that the ocean plan is not intended to alter fisheries policy; and
Allows for the siting of “appropriate scale” offshore renewable energy facilities in state waters, except for the Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary off the backside of the Cape, provided the facility is consistent with the ocean plan.
The bill does not impact the Cape Wind project that is proposing to site 130 wind turbines in environmentally sensitive waters of Nantucket Sound that have been used for centuries by commercial and recreational fishermen.
Concerns, fund
During the legislative process, the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Commission expressed concern over the fact that the final sign-off on the ocean management plan would be left in the hands of a single political appointee, namely the secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Instead, the commission had urged lawmakers to create a board like itself, which has the authority to vote up or down on DMF proposals, to have the final say on the ocean plan.
A group calling itself the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership Fund, funded by at least two large grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, has been meeting for several years now to hash out ocean management issues.
Its primary near-term goal is to “support the development and implementation of an integrated multi-use ocean management plan for Massachusetts waters as soon as possible.”
Members of the group’s steering committee include: Priscilla Brooks, CLF; John Bullard, Sea Education Association; Stephen Crosby, McCormack Graduate School of Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston; Richard Delaney, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies; Paul Diodati, DMF; Deborah Hadden, Massachusetts Port Authority; James Hunt, city of Boston; Leslie-Ann McGee, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management; Leona Roach, Massachusetts Marine Trades Association; Andy Rosenberg, Joint Ocean Commission Initiative and University of New Hampshire; and Greg Watson, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
For more information on the fund, visit its web site at <www.mopf.org>. /cfn/
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