Collaborative project:

Regional research and information plan

for the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem of Coastal Washington, Oregon, and California

Sea Grant programs in Washington, Oregon, and California are working together to gather input from a variety of interests for inclusion in a Regional Marine Research and Information Plan for the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME).

The project, supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and endorsed by the governors of all three states, is a response to recent national recommendations calling for a regional approach to research planning. This Sea Grant-led effort is also a collaboration with the West Coast Governor's Agreement on Ocean Health.

Goals and Focus

• Aid in the transition to an ecosystem-based approach for research, management, and communication of information
• Enhance the level of coordination between diverse communities of both place and interest
• Identify and prioritize issues of specific regional concern in a detailed and targeted manner so they are better understood and better supported at the federal level

Themes

The plan is likely to cover a wide range of issues. Sea Grant is specifically asking for input in each of the following seven theme area which are recurrent in national, regional, and state ocean and coastal research strategies:

1. The social and economic vitality of coastal communities
2. Coastal natural hazards
3. Human health
4. Ecosystem health
5. The ocean’s role in climate variability
6. Marine transportation and security
7. Ocean education and environmental literacy

Additional themes will be addressed as they arise.

Gathering comments

Regional Sea Grant Programs conducted 16 workshops in Washington, Oregon and California between May 2007 and January 2008. More than 600 coastal and ocean stakeholders participatedm including coastal residents, scholars and community groups, marine conservation and research organizations; state, tribal, and local governments; marine resource management agencies, federal agencies working in the region, and others who depend on ocean resources for livelihood or recreation. 

Most workshops were attended by representatives from the West Coast Governors who discussed the tri-state Agreement on Ocean Health and stayed to listen to the concerns and priorities of stakeholders. 

The workshops generated more than 5,000 comments from participants. Read what people in all three states had to say (updated Feb. 14, 2008):

• In .pdf format
• In MS Excel format

In addition, Sea Grant programs in all three states used an on-line survey to gather additional comments about regional research needs and priorities. By the time the survey closed on Jan. 31, more than 400 people had taken it to offer their opinions. A summary of the survey results will be available here soon, and they will be incorporated into the final plan which is scheduled for release in Summer 2008.

Providing comments

In December, 2007, the Sea Grant planning group submitted formal comments to the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health Draft Action Plan. The comments were based on preliminary review of the data collected from the regional workshops. Read them here:

• In .pdf format
• In MS Word format

University of Washington project collaborates with Regional Plan

The Sea Grant regional research and information plan project has a new collaborator: the University of Washington's School of Marine Affairs. UW graduate researcher Kary Coleman, advised by SMA Professor Marc Hershman, is cataloguing regional marine research needs on the West Coast as identified in existing planning and resource management literature dating to 2000. Preliminary documents for the Master's thesis project, which is expected to conclude in 2008, are available on the project's Web site.

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Oregon Sea Grant Web resources: