Northeast Regional Ocean Planning

We provided recommendations for how agencies can best engage stakeholders and use the recreation data Surfrider helped provide as part of a suite of studies aimed at characterizing uses of New England's coast and ocean.

We are pleased to announce that on December 7, 2016, the National Ocean Council certified the Northeast Regional Ocean Plan, launching us headlong into a more sustainable future and a paradigm shift in ocean management that looks at the ocean holistically as a system, rather than managing piecemeal by agency, spatial boundary, specific use, threat or species. Learn more by reading (and sharing!) our Coastal Blog.

Now that the ocean plan is final, the Surfrider Foundation will engage in the vital work of implementation. Our staff and volunteers will continue to participate in ocean planning meetings to improve the iterative plan so that it best represents our goals in protecting the ocean and coastal ecosystems, and recreational areas. We'll be calling upon our ocean industry leader friends - surf shop owners, kayak tour guides, beachside pub and restaurant owners, SUP racers and the like - to help us engage locally as federal and state agencies begin to fully utilize the best practices established in the plan, and integrate the inherent expertise of our coastal communities and ocean users into decision-making processes that will inform the future of the sea.

THANKS to all who have engaged in this process by attending meetings, making public comments, and helping promote understanding of this important work! Stay tuned to our email list for opportunities to engage in plan implementation.

Watch our video to learn more about ocean planning on the Atlantic Coast, why it is important, and how you can engage to help:

For more comprehensive information, see: https://northeast.surfrider.org/rop/nerop/.