Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health
The Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health (OCEH) Committee is one of three Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) Standing Committees. This committee was established to help identify and coordinate regional activities to preserve and restore ecosystem health in New England. Down load the committee’s 2024-2028 Work Plan.
Current Activities
Sentinel Monitoring for Climate Change
Overseeing development of an integrated sentinel monitoring strategy for climate change, building on ongoing efforts in Long Island Sound and the Gulf of Maine.
Habitat Classification and Ocean Mapping (HCOM) Subcommittee
HCOM strives to acquire high-quality regional seafloor data in order to produce regional mapping products that can be used to address ongoing and emerging management challenges.
Resilient Shorelines – Marsh Migration Group
Supporting regional efforts to assess the potential for marsh migration in the face of sea level rise in New England.
Review of Marine Habitat Classification, Characterization, and Modeling Activities
Reviewing a range of approaches to marine habitat classification that could help to advance management of ocean habitats.
Environmental Indicators
Supporting the Environmental Indicators Community of Practice and other tools for dialogue among environmental indicators programs in the region.
Committee Goal
Enhance region-wide coordination and collaborative actions on shared ocean and coastal ecosystem health priorities including those affecting water quality, habitats, and living resources and their derived social and economic benefits.
Rebuilding the Health of New England’s Ocean
The northeastern U.S. coastal ocean is a rich and diverse place, from the near-shore sounds of southern New England to the beaches of Cape Cod, and the rocky shores and complex circulatory patterns of the Gulf of Maine. These ecosystems have abundant resources and have supported coastal communities for generations. But these valuable ecosystems are vulnerable. The impacts of increasing human uses, including many new industrial uses, and the effects of fragmented, single-sector management are showing in degraded water quality, depleted fish stocks, and damaged habitat that have diminished our lifestyle and economy alike. These effects are widespread, often linked to common causes, as evidenced by documented “dead zones” in Long Island Sound, shifting and unbalanced natural communities from changing climate and invasive species, and diminished fisheries in the Gulf of Maine. The New England states also have identified causal links to human activity such as development on land and use of fossil fuels with the health of our coastal waters and estuaries.
Collaborating Toward a Common Vision
Many people, agencies, and organizations are already working to protect and restore coastal and ocean ecosystem health in the northeastern U.S. NROC’s role is to support the National Ocean Council’s draft Implementation Plan, guided by the four themes of (1) adopting EBM; (2) obtaining, using and sharing the best science and data; (3) promoting efficiency and collaboration; and (4) strengthening our regional effort. These themes are well-suited to NROC’s and to the OCEH Committee’s construct and strategy to enhance communication and collaboration, advocate for collectively-determined priority regional actions, and help articulate a common vision for management and restoration.
To implement this strategy, NROC has identified three areas of focus within coastal and ocean ecosystem health:
- Link observations to management decision-making.
- Enhance data collection, integration and dissemination.
- Improve governance, coordination and communication.
Strategies
The committee has identified two strategies for working toward its goal of protecting and restoring coastal and ocean ecosystems in the northeast:
- Support research and monitoring that enhances our understanding of ecosystem structure and function, improves utility of social, economic and environmental indicators, and leads to effective EBM implementation.
- Strengthen regional coordination to promote efficiency and collaboration by building partnerships, sharing resources, and reducing redundancy of efforts and ensuring full public and professional participation in the decision-making process.
During the 2013-2014 timeframe the OCEH Committee will be developing comprehensive plans within these two strategies to guide funding and activities that will most effectively meet the goal of a healthy and sustainable regional ecosystem. Activities listed below are underway or in the development phase and will begin the process of implementing the strategies. While far from complete with respect to the goal of implementing an EBM framework throughout the region, many of these actions provide a start, or even a cornerstone towards achieving that goal.
Committee Members
Steve Couture, New Hampshire Coastal Program, (State Co-Chair), steven.couture@des.nh.gov
Regina Lyons, Environmental Protection Agency (Federal Co-Chair), lyons.regina@epa.gov
Jake Kritzer, Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS Co-Chair), jake@neracoos.org
Ivy Mlsna, Environmental Protection Agency, mlsna.ivy@epa.gov
Todd Callaghan, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (HCOM State Co-Chair), todd.callaghan@state.ma.us
Dan Sampson, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (HCOM State Co-Chair), daniel.sampson@state.ma.us
Chris Williams, New Hampshire Coastal Program (Alternate State Co-Chair), christian.williams@des.nh.gov