CRMC adopts Marine Resources Development Plan

January 13, 2006, PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the Marine Resources Development Plan, a program designed to provide a roadmap for improving the health and functionality of the state’s marine ecosystem, providing for appropriate marine-related economic development and promoting the use and enjoyment of these resources by all Rhode Islanders.

The plan was designed to guide the fuller use by the CRMC of its authority under Chapter 46-23 of the Rhode Island general laws and under the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Last year, the General Assembly comprehensively updated Rhode Island’s environmental management statutes, giving the CRMC the power to develop and adopt this plan. The plan will also be incorporated into the State Guide Plan.

“The CRMC is very proud of the work it has done in the span of a little more than a year, along with the other legislatively mandated partners, on this Marine Resources Development Plan,” said CRMC Chairman Michael M. Tikoian. “This plan will hopefully foster increased collaboration between all of the agencies and municipalities in the state, and will continue to improve enjoyment and protection of our state’s natural resources, for all Rhode Islanders, well into the future.”

The MRDP, by design, will provide a roadmap for the Council to transform itself from a permitting-heavy agency into one that is more policy-driven. The major vehicle through which the Council will implement the goals of the MRDP is the numerous Special Area Management Plans, which allow the CRMC to interact with many groups and agencies on a regional level. The CRMC plans to blanket the entire state and its offshore waters with these SAMPs as part of the MRDP strategy.

The vision of the MRDP includes properly functioning bay and lagoon ecosystems; abundant and sustained fishing and fisheries resources; successful coastal places; and marine-based economic development. The plan outlines strategies for improving the health and functionality of the state’s marine ecosystem, and for providing appropriate marine-based economic development. The plan outlines implementation activities for the next five years.

Changing Dynamics, New Responsibilities

In 1971, the Rhode Island legislature established the CRMC to plan for and manage the state’s coastal resources, and the Council quickly became a national leader in allocating areas of the state’s coastal zone to different uses and then managing development within those areas through permitting. Rhode Island, however, has changed extensively since the CRMC was created, and its management of sensitive coastal areas needs to reflect those changes.

Rhode Island’s economy has shifted in the last 30 years, from being manufacturing-based to being service-based. Wastewater treatment plants have been built and upgraded and water quality has improved. The ship Navy has departed, while marine and military research have flourished. Population migration has continued into suburban and rural towns. When the Council was created, the specter of oil refineries and nuclear power plants were real, and the pressure to develop open space was intense.

Thirty four years later, there are no proposals for oil refineries or nuclear power plants on Narragansett Bay and issues of preserving open space and smart growth and development dominate the CRMC’s agenda and workload. Just as important, theories of resource management have evolved as scientific and decision-making understanding have deepened, most recently shown in the report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.

Coordination is Key

The concept of the MRDP came from a series of meetings and task force reports to the General Assembly and the Governor’s urging that Rhode Island, as a whole, needed to do a better job in marine and coastal resources management. The same year that the CRMC was tasked with developing the plan, the General Assembly determined that state agency collaboration was not at the level required to meet the challenges and take full advantage of opportunities offered to the state heading into the future. The result was a suite of legislation; one of these statutes called for the CRMC to develop a Marine Resources Development Plan in cooperation with three other key groups: The Department of Environmental Management (DEM), the Department of Administration (DOA) and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center and Rhode Island Sea Grant also played a large part in the development of the plan, as well as the RI Senate Policy office, and the RI Economic Policy Council.

The MRDP is not a regulatory document, nor does it replace or supercede the existing Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Program regulations or Special Area Management Plans. The plan is a policy statement adopted by the Council that is intended to serve as a guide to action and to practice.

A PDF version of the MRDP is available at the CRMC web site, www.crmc.ri.gov.