Oregon Sea Grant

Developing the Foundation for a Framework for Public and Stakeholder Engagement in a Regional Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Process

Principle investigators: Stephen Brandt, Oregon Sea Grant, and John Stein, Deputy Science Director, NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Contact: Stephen Brandt

In November 2011, NOAA Western Regional Programs and the four West Coast Sea Grant programs were awarded $30,000 through the competitive NOAA-Sea Grant Regional Team Collaboration Grants Program. Oregon Sea Grant is leading this collaborative project, which will, over the course of one year, collect information critical to developing a framework for stakeholder engagement in Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, to be used primarily by West Coast NOAA and Sea Grant programs.

In late spring and early summer of 2012, the research team will conduct focus groups with NOAA program personnel on their existing understanding of, and engagement processes for, CMSP. The team will then circulate a follow-up survey to verify focus groups results and collect additional relevant information. The final product will be a white paper, including recommendations for developing a coherent and implementable framework for engaging stakeholders on CMSP on the West Coast. The report will be available in early 2013.