Identifying Our Ocean’s Special Places through the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan

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We hope you will join us for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body’s (Mid-Atlantic RPB) first webinar of 2018 which will focus on next steps toward designating Ecologically Rich Areas (ERAs) in the Mid-Atlantic ocean.

Knowing where these special ecological places exist is crucial, now more than ever, to ensure informed decision making about future uses in our Mid-Atlantic ocean, as well as strengthening the ways we can protect the ocean and coast now.

WHO: Anyone, the Webinar is free and open to the public
 
WHEN: February 13, 2018 from 11 am to 1 pm
 
WHAT: This webinar will provide an opportunity for the MidA RPB and stakeholders to discuss the recent 2017 Draft Semi-Annual Work Plan and Progress Report, and to decide how to move forward on ocean indicators and ecologically rich areas. 
 
Please visit the Mid-A RPB website for additional information:
https://www.boem.gov/MidA-RPB-Webinar-February-13-2018/
 
WHY: The identification of ERAs can inform agency decision-making on a wide variety of issues, from shipping to sand mining to offshore wind siting, by showing further details as to the presence of marine wildlife and providing a shared basis for more educated and engaged stakeholder discussions.

Their identification can also guide decision-makers toward careful consideration in siting decisions to ensure continued health of  marine ecosystems and coastal communities and economies dependent on our ocean’s well-being. Identifying these areas can help us work towards sustainable ocean uses that could proceed in a manner responsive to marine life and citizens who depend on the ocean’s health for jobs, food, and recreation.

The hundreds of data layers on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal can help streamline identification of these special areas. These data layers allow scientifically-based, important ecological places to be identified in many ways by combining components such as species diversity, vulnerability, or abundance -- to name just a few.

Sharing information about these special places and maps on the Data Portal – a tool used by federal and state ocean managers, industries such as offshore wind, and conservation groups like the Littoral Society - will help us manage and protect our ocean resources.

At the Littoral Society, conserving the ocean and coast is our fundamental mission. We believe that one way to fulfill that mission, considering the increasing demands on the ocean, is with careful, coordinated planning among our state, federal and tribal governments. Ocean planning creates a more informed, effective and coordinated approach for ocean resource management as well as strengthening ways we can protect the ocean and coast.

Participating in the Mid-Atlantic ocean planning process raises the voices of many ocean users who depend upon protecting special places, species, and a healthy ocean and coast. We hope you will join us.

Join the Webinar Conversation