Virginia has a rich relationship with the Atlantic Ocean.
The state has one of the deepest ports on the East Coast, a robust seafood industry, the world’s largest naval base – and soon-to-be the largest offshore wind farm in the country, said Ryan Green, manager of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program.
And the demands on the ocean are only increasing, he said. That’s why state officials want to develop a plan for managing it.
“If we can do that, then all of these uses, which are increasing in their extent and their frequency, can coexist, and crucially can coexist with the critical marine habitat,” Green said.
The CZM program, which operates under the state Department of Environmental Quality, is now working on Virginia’s first-ever Ocean Plan, which will look at how to balance competing needs for natural and commercial resources.
Green said the program first discussed the idea years ago. Back in 2016, the federal government released an Ocean Action Plan for the wider Mid-Atlantic region.
That report from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management outlined “dramatic changes” officials expect to see in the Mid-Atlantic over the coming decades, including shifting ocean dynamics due to climate change and increased demand for goods transported by sea. (The Port of Virginia, for instance, continues to grow.)
Authors also noted difficulties posed by responsibilities of ocean management being so widely distributed across different agencies, laws and regulations.
“These challenges are increasing as society seeks to accommodate new and expanding ocean uses while simultaneously protecting the health of a rapidly changing natural system,” they wrote.
A couple years later, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that said the federal government would step back from ocean planning and leave it more to the states.
Green said Virginia finally got the effort in motion about a year ago. The growing offshore wind industry was another big impetus.
“One of the things that I think offshore wind taught a lot of us is that it's really good to get together ahead of time and think about where these uses overlap,” he said.
The state will have to factor in impacts from climate change as well.
“We all know that there are changes in the ocean,” he said. “Looking at ways to plan for and prepare around how those changes in the ocean might impact things like our commercial fisheries are very important.”
The team will look at state and federal waters, though it will be easier to make recommendations for the former, Green said.
They narrowed their focus to six categories: fishing and aquaculture; energy and infrastructure; seafloor resources; sustainability and conservation; transportation navigation and security; and cultural and historic resources and recreation.
CZM gathered more than 100 experts in those fields to discuss what could have the most impact.
The agency’s also looking for input from Virginians on how they feel about and interact with the ocean, or any concerns they have for its future.
That includes a community forum at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach this Thursday, Aug. 15 at 6:30 p.m. You can find more information about that and other opportunities for public comment on DEQ’s website.
Officials expect to release a draft of the Ocean Plan early next year. It’ll include recommendations for further research or policy, though most would be up to state lawmakers to address.
“We don’t want a plan that’s going to sit on a shelf,” Green said.
