Port of Galilee, on Rhode Island’s southern coast

Journal archive photo by Don Bousquet & Son Aerial Photography

OVER THE NEXT two years, the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council will be developing something groundbreaking: the Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP), a two-year research and planning process that will zone the state’s off-shore waters.

The CRMC recognizes that Rhode Island’s coastal and offshore waters are already heavily used, and will continue to face new development pressure. This zoning will designate offshore waters to protect a variety of high-priority uses and habitats for commercial fishing; critical habitats for fish, marine animals, and birds; marine transport; and more.

Among many other responsibilities, the CRMC is charged with managing the state’s submerged lands. The CRMC has been zoning the state’s waters since 1983, for uses ranging from conservation areas to industrial ports, so this is familiar territory for the council. All eyes will be on the CRMC and the State of Rhode Island — across the country and internationally — as the planning process comes to a close and the CRMC implements its seventh and largest SAMP.

One of the major uses that will be identified through the SAMP’s scientific research process is possible siting locations for alternative energy, namely wind farms. Using the best available science, along with public input and involvement, the CRMC hopes to identify areas most suitable for these wind farms where other off-shore uses will not be compromised. With the cooperation and scientific resources of the University of Rhode Island — the university has pooled an elite team of researchers — the CRMC will work during the first year to map the off-shore waters.

The concept for the Ocean SAMP was born through the realization that global warming is a reality and that Rhode Island is particularly susceptible to its affects. Global warming is perhaps the most critical issue of the 21st Century. It is already accelerating sea-level rise, leading to beach-erosion property losses and increasing Rhode Island’s vulnerability to hurricanes and floods. Climate change may hurt our food supply, public health and the economy. Rhode Island is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by using renewable energy resources — primarily offshore wind farms — to meet 15 percent of its energy needs. The CRMC leadership decided that one way to address this issue was to provide room for renewable energy in the state’s long-term plan — and a special area management plan, or SAMP, was the best way to do it.

The CRMC has federal authority to develop and implement SAMPs through the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act, and has been developing SAMPs since 1983 when it adopted the Providence Harbor SAMP. Since then, the CRMC has adopted and implemented four more in the state, is finishing an update of the Providence Harbor — now called Metro Bay — SAMP and is also working on a SAMP for the west side of Aquidneck Island. SAMPs, by design, are ecosystem-based management strategies that are consistent with the council’s mandate to preserve and restore ecological systems. Through the process, the CRMC coordinates with local municipalities, as well as government agencies and community organizations, to prepare the SAMPs and implement the management strategies.

Working alongside the CRMC in the SAMP development effort is a constant fixture and invaluable resource — the University of Rhode Island and its Coastal Resources Center. The CRMC has called upon the extensive expertise of the Coastal Resources Center (CRC) and university for all of its SAMPs, and the Ocean SAMP effort magnifies those efforts. A highly regarded, world-renowned team of scientists is conducting studies on current and potential future uses of the off-shore waters for this project. Some of the university scientists are also conducting research and data collection aboard the research vessel Endeavor in October.

Development of a special area management plan in two years is an ambitious goal, but this is one of many things for which the CRMC has been recognized as a national leader. A draft is scheduled to be presented to the council for adoption by February, with a completed Ocean SAMP to be presented to the council for adopt by February 2010.

With five other SAMPs successfully under the agency’s belt, the Ocean SAMP would be the largest-scale plan to date. Despite venturing into uncharted waters with ocean zoning, the CRMC and URI are world-class leaders in this method of planning, and Rhode Islanders will benefit from it for generations.

Michael M. Tikoian is chairman of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, of which Grover J. Fugate is executive director.