NORTHEAST

1. Woods Hole Sea Grant Program, Development of a Course to Enhance Understanding of Wetlands Protection Laws and Legal Authority of Coastal Conservation Commission in Massachusetts, $40,000 (Completed).

The Massachusetts Coastal Training Program, a partnership of three NOAA organizations (Waquoit Bay NERR, MA Coastal Zone Management, and Woods Hole Sea Grant), partnered with the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC), a nonprofit organization serving local environmental officials, to create a coastal version of the MACC course "Fundamentals for Conservation Commissioners." Specifically, this project sought to: (1) adapt an existing 8-unit freshwater wetlands regulations training course to address coastal wetlands issues; (2) incorporate into the course components that address existing regulatory authorities, development of local bylaws, and examples of how overlapping laws may affect commission decision-making; (3) develop educational materials to complement workshop training to make use of web-based and DVD technologies; (4) provide training in multiple coastal locations for easier access to the coastal course; (5) develop evaluation materials to assess course effectiveness; and (6) involve state agencies and NGOs that share an interest in coastal resource protection in the development and delivery of course units, related training materials, and evaluation.

Project Web Site: Coastal Conservation Commission Training

Program Web Site: Woods Hole Sea Grant Program .

2.  Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program, Fisheries for the Bench, $50,000 (Ongoing).

Fisheries for the Bench is a judicial outreach project proposed by the Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program to provide educational seminars to judges regarding fisheries management and law and groundbreaking community-based approaches to marine resource management. The project’s objectives are to: 1) provide judges who consistently hear fisheries cases a more thorough understanding of the complexities of fisheries management and the doctrines and precedent of fisheries law; 2) use legal outreach to judges to move toward more effective fisheries management in the U.S. through the development of curriculum and implementation of two two-day seminars for judges; and 3) develop a fisheries curriculum that can be exported to non-legal audiences including members of the fishing industry, fisheries managers and interdisciplinary audiences. As a pilot project, one seminar will be held in Rhode Island which will include presentations from fisheries lawyers, managers, and members of the fishing industry, and field trips to offer first-hand knowledge to judges. The workshop wil be held on May 19, 2009.

Program Web Site: Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program .

3. University of Maine School of Law, Cooperative Harvesting Agreements Workshop for New England Groundfish Fisheries, $38,082 (Completed).

The University of Maine School of Law convened attorneys, economists, industry representatives, and members of the regulatory and environmental communities to discuss creation of binding and effective harvest cooperative agreements for New England fisheries. The project’s goals included: 1) analyze, for the first time in depth, contract terms relating to compliance and enforcement, membership transferability, monitoring and reporting practices, and relationship to other areas of property and competition law, as well as the necessary regulatory regime supportive of cooperative agreements in fisheries; 2) attract and develop a qualified legal community to assist regional fishing cooperatives with contract creation and management; and 3) develop collaborative and ongoing convening and research relationships between the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Ocean Conservancy of New England, and Marine Law Institute of the University of Maine School of Law. The meeting was timed to assist the design of harvest cooperatives that may be formed under provisions for self-selecting sectors included in the Fishery Management Plan for the Northeast multispecies fishery.

Project Web Site: Sector Workshop Blog Archive

Program Web Site: University of Maine School of Law .

4. Woods Hole Sea Grant Program, Effectively Managing Coastal Floodplain Development: Using Case Studies on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Develop a National Model Floodplain Bylaw, $20,000  (Ongoing).

The WHOI Sea Grant program is proposing to coordinate and participate in up-to-date legal and technical research to develop a national model coastal floodplain by-law. WHOI Sea Grant is proposing to partner with an experienced attorney in floodplain management and with the Cape Cod Commission, a regional leader in hazard mitigation planning efforts. The project team will research national precedent-setting coastal floodplain case law to document the reasoning of these legal decisions, research and document our current scientific understanding of the beneficial functions of coastal floodplains, and ultimately prepare a national model floodplain bylaw/ordinance. This legal and scientific information will be used to analyze the underpinnings of an existing model floodplain bylaw that was generated by the Cape Cod Commission in their 1996 Regional Policy Plan update. This model by-law has been held up as a regional and national model. However, additional case law and scientific research has been conducted since that 1996 update relating to coastal floodplains, possibly jeopardizing its legal basis. Workshops, bulletins, and one-on-one meetings with local community planners and officials, as well as state and federal floodplain specialists are proposed to ensure the results of this research are applied in local, state and federal coastal floodplain management.

Program Web Site: Woods Hole Sea Grant Program .

SOUTHEAST/GULF OF MEXICO

6. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Examining the Evolving Public Trust in South Carolina, $26,545  (Completed).

A competitive Coastal Law Fellowship program was created to host a law student from a state university on a part-time basis at the coastal program headquarters in Charleston, SC. The primary goal of the proposed research fellowship was to clarify the implications of the Public Trust Doctrine in the state of South Carolina in light of pressing coastal and ocean issues. The project was focused around three objectives: 1) synthesize existing literature and case law pertinent to the evolution of the Public Trust Doctrine in South Carolina; 2) research the scope and implications of submerged lands leasing in South Carolina; and 3) research the scope and implications of private ownership of public trust lands in South Carolina. A submerged lands leasing program may enable South Carolina to better manage unnecessary and/or harmful developments on public trust lands, and to generate a revenue stream to help address coastal access issues, for example.

Program Web Site: South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management .

7. Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Legal, Policy, and Management Strategies for Effective Stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico: Developing a Consortium for an Adaptive Management Strategy, $75,000 (Completed).

This project organized a workshop to assist with the development of an integrated, informative, and adaptive management strategy to support establishment of a robust legal, policy, and management framework for effective stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico. Emphasis was placed on identifying those institutions that lack the legal and regulatory structure to balance competing uses and objectives with the goals of effective collaborative regional governance. The project conducted outreach through dissemination to interested stakeholders of a) the information generated from the research component leading up to the convening of the consortium; and b) the consortium’s work products: the Adaptive Management Strategy and the Consortium Proceedings. In addition, staff of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea Grant Extension programs will disseminate these materials as it works with local, regional and state decision makers and the general public.

Program Web Site: Texas A&M University Corpus Christi .

GREAT LAKES

8. Colleen Masterson, Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, Legal Tools to Protect Coastal Environments, $51,850 (Completed).

The Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College; Olson, Bzdok and Howard, P.C.; Inland Seas Education Association; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Michigan Sea Grant have joined together to create a unique and innovative new legal outreach workshop for Michigan Sea Grant Constituents. This three-day workshop, entitled “Legal Tools to Protect Coastal Environments” was designed to provide government officials, non-profit environment groups, shoreline property owners and concerned citizens with the tools they need to better understand and protect Michigan’s coastal environments. The Legal Tools workshop offered a unique combination of legal analysis sessions and field experiences related to coastal environments. The connection between the collection of scientific data and the outcomes of the legal decision-making processes was emphasized.

Project Web Site: Legal Tools Website Summary

Program Web Site: Great Lakes Water Studies Institute .

WEST COAST

10. MRAG Americas, Review and Development of Near-shore Legal and Policy Framework for Community-based Management Opportunities in Oregon, $50,000 (Completed).

The concept of community-based fishery management (CBFM) has drawn extensive interest around the world, with increasing interest in the U.S. A series of national meetings evaluated potential for CBFM, and identified Port Orford, Oregon, as a highly desirable site for a CBFM pilot program. The community of Port Orford was interested in creating a “stewardship area,” a specifically bounded section of the adjacent marine environment, where they could share management authority with current state and federal managers. Their goal was to help design a research plan that is appropriate to the scale and ecosystem characteristics of the reef and to the character of the fishing fleet in their community. This project sought to review and describe the current near-shore marine management policies and laws of the state of Oregon and related federal policies and laws with regard to community based fishery management as a preliminary step to planned and ongoing projects of the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team (POORT), Ecotrust, and the Pacific Marine Stewardship Council. The objective of this legal research project was to investigate whether the laws of Oregon and the U.S. would permit the community of Port Orford to pursue its community based management vision.

Program Web Site: MRAG Americas.

11. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Monumental Questions: Governing the Northwestern Hawaii Islands. $75,000 (Ongoing).

On June 15, 2006, the United States created the largest fully protected marine conservation area in the world under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906, a law which historically has been used to set aside land areas and land-based geographic features. To ensure the Monument has the greatest chance of meeting its promise, a number of legal and policy questions require analysis and public consideration. The goal of this effort is to ensure the strongest possible basis is provided in both domestic and international law for the Monument’s administration and for protection of the coral reef ecosystem of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This project will identify and assess legislative and regulatory options for ensuring the full protection of the NWHI Marine National Monument under domestic law and also analyze potential international law measures to reduce threats from navigation and fishing vessel operations.

Program Web Site: University of Hawaii at Manoa .