NROC News – January 2014
NROC News – monthly news and updates from NROC, its member agencies and partners.
NROC would like you to know –
- Mark your calendars! The Winter NROC Meeting will be held Thursday, February 13th in Portsmouth, NH.
- NROC is seeking proposals for contractor assistance to provide support and expertise to the Northeast Regional Planning Body in identifying potential options for enhancing inter-agency coordination, public input, and the use of data in existing regulatory processes as part of ocean planning activities in New England. Proposals are due January 27th. See Request for Proposal for details.
- A reminder that the Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health Committees for NROC and NERACOOS are sponsoring their second workshop on January 16, 2014, 10am-3pm, at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, NH, to continue working on an “Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network for Climate Change in New England Marine and Estuarine Waters.” Over 50 scientists, resource managers, and policy experts from Connecticut to Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces have formed a steering committee and three working groups (pelagic, benthic, and estuarine) and begun developing an inventory of monitoring and indicator programs in the northeast region, criteria to select indicators and sentinel sites for the regional network, and preliminary lists of indicators and sentinel sites. The workshop will be used to plan next steps, including writing a science and implementation plan for how to conduct an integrated sentinel monitoring system, building on several established and ongoing programs.
NROC Partners would like you to know –
- January RPB Meeting: The Northeast Regional Planning Body (NE RPB) will meet on January 22-23, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The meeting will primarily focus on discussing and approving revised regional ocean planning goals/objectives and an accompanying draft work plan. More logistics and agenda information, along with draft products, will be posted on the NE RPB meeting page .
- Stakeholder Engagement in Marine Planning Webinar: The Udall Foundation’s U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (www.ecr.gov) will be hosting a webinar to present Principles for Stakeholder Engagement in Marine Planning on Tuesday, January 28th, from 2:30-5:00 PM EST. The webinar will focus on stakeholder engagement in a National Ocean Policy context. The content of the webinar is based on a similarly titled whitepaper which can be downloaded here. This is an open training, and all are welcome to attend. However, space is limited, so please register here if you plan on attending. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. In addition, a webinar focused on effective tribal relations and protocols in marine planning is planned for February. Via Brian Manwaring (ERC)