On the East Coast of the United States, some species of fish are already experiencing climate-related shifts in distribution, abundance, and productivity. Although the future is uncertain, a continuation or acceleration of climate change has the potential to strain our existing fishery management system and alter the way fishermen, scientists, and the public interact with the marine environment.
In order to begin preparing for this possibility, management bodies along the entire Atlantic seaboard have teamed up to launch a new project called East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning. Scenario planning is a way of exploring how fishery management may need to evolve over the next few decades in response to climate change. You can find additional details in the introductory brochure.
Weigh In! Stakeholder Input is Key to Effective Scenario Planning
The initiative is being organized by a Core Team of representatives from the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and NOAA Fisheries. The team has lined up three kick-off webinars:
Monday, August 30, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 1, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 2, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Please register at the links above. The webinars will introduce stakeholders to the overall initiative, explain the benefits of participating in the process, outline additional ways to become involved, and begin collecting stakeholder input.
On the East Coast of the United States, some species of fish are already experiencing climate-related shifts in distribution, abundance, and productivity. Although the future is uncertain, a continuation or acceleration of climate change has the potential to strain our existing fishery management system and alter the way fishermen, scientists, and the public interact with the marine environment.
In order to begin preparing for this possibility, management bodies along the entire Atlantic seaboard have teamed up to launch a new project called East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning. Scenario planning is a way of exploring how fishery management may need to evolve over the next few decades in response to climate change. You can find additional details in the introductory brochure.
Weigh In! Stakeholder Input is Key to Effective Scenario Planning
The initiative is being organized by a Core Team of representatives from the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and NOAA Fisheries. The team has lined up three kick-off webinars:
Monday, August 30, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 1, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 2, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Please register at the links above. The webinars will introduce stakeholders to the overall initiative, explain the benefits of participating in the process, outline additional ways to become involved, and begin collecting stakeholder input.

Members of the public are invited to join a Port Access Route Studies Update & Map Data webinar on Sept. 14, at 10 a.m. In this special edition of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal’s “How Tuesday” webinar series, presented in partnership with the Coast Guard and Northeast Regional Ocean Council, Coast Guard personnel will present information on findings, public comment opportunities and next steps for two draft reports for Port Access Route Studies focused on the approaches to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia (CHESPARS) and the Northern New York Bight (NNYBPARS). In addition, demonstrations will be provided for publicly available tools and map data that can be used to explore the studies and their proposed routing measures in further depth.

The next meeting of the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance Advisory Council, which will be open to the public, will take place on September 24th from 1-4 pm EST. The meeting summary and presentations from the June 17th meeting can be found on the Advisory Council page of the website, and the agenda for the September meeting will be posted on this page a few weeks before the meeting.

Join us for another NMFS Ecosystem Based Management/Ecosystem Based Fishery Management Seminar Series (EBM/EBFM)!
Presenters: Avalon Bristow, Program Director, MARCO; Mike Snyder, New York State Department of State, Steering Comm. Chair of Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean; Karl Vilacoba, Urban Coast Institute’s Communications Director & Communications Lead/Project Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal
Abstract: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) is the Regional Ocean Partnership for the Mid-Atlantic. MARCO has been coordinating across geographies and agencies around shared ocean priorities since 2009 when it was established by the governors of the five coastal Mid-Atlantic states – VA, MD, DE, NJ, and NY. In 2018, MARCO established the Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean (MACO) to foster collaboration among states, federal agencies, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), and federally recognized tribes, and to engage stakeholders. We will provide an update about ocean planning activities in the Mid-Atlantic, with a special focus on the region’s five topic-specific working groups and the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal.
About the Speakers
Avalon Bristow is Program Director at MARCO, where she works closely with the Board to develop and implement actions that advance MARCO’s priorities. She is staff support to MARCO’s collaborative work groups, is Co-Coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Acidification Network in partnership with MARACOOS, and is Coordinator for the Regional Wildlife Science Entity in partnership with the Northeast Regional Ocean Council. Prior to joining MARCO, Avalon worked as a Program Manager for National Wildlife Federation’s Mid-Atlantic office, where she coordinated their coastal resilience and conservation education programs.
Mike Snyder is the Ocean and Great Lakes Program Manager at the New York State Department of State. He is currently a MARCO Management Board member and the Steering Committee Chair for the Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean (MACO). Since joining the Department in 2008, Mike has been actively involved in advancing New York’s Ocean and Great Lakes policy agenda, including contributing to regulatory reviews of energy projects in the Offshore Atlantic, helping to create the Five-State Mid Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), and coordinating State agency participation in the BOEM-New York Offshore Renewable Energy Task Force.
Karl Vilacoba is the Urban Coast Institute’s Communications Director and the communications lead/project manager for the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal. Prior to joining the UCI, Karl worked for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, where he oversaw a variety of public outreach efforts and served as managing editor of InTransition, a national transportation magazine published in partnership with the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Karl previously spent a decade as a news reporter and editor for newspapers in the Jersey Shore area and at USA Today’s Manhattan Bureau. A lifelong Shore resident, Karl also served for several years as a member of the Lake Como Unified Planning & Zoning Board and the borough’s Environmental Commission.
POC: Peg Brady (peg.brady@noaa.gov); Library Seminars (library.seminars@noaa.gov)
Registration: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4462794963967362828

Supporting OA Action Planning and Implementation in the Mid-Atlantic
Mid Atlantic Coastal Acidification Network (MACAN) and OA Alliance Virtual Workshop
October 26
1:00 PM – 4:30 PM EST
(3.5 hours in duration)
The majority of the Mid-Atlantic coastal states are pursuing OA Action Planning either as stand-alone efforts or as part of broader coastal/ocean planning efforts. This workshop seeks to connect researchers, state agencies, and/or representatives from state legislatures from across the Mid-Atlantic region to help inform OA Action planning with an emphasis on identifying associated data/ information needs for management and coordinating monitoring where appropriate.
AGENDA
REGISTER
https://bit.ly/3mkR5Le
Join us Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. for an edition of the Portal’s “How Tuesday” webinar series that provides a tutorial on using Groups and the Portal’s other advanced tools.
Topics to be covered include:
- Editing the appearance of maps in the Active tab
- How to create and save Drawings and Map Bookmarks
- How to start a Group and share Drawings and Map Bookmarks with members
- Overlaying map data from outside websites with the Portal’s ArcGIS Service Input Tool
- Additional Marine Planner buttons: Operating the linear measurement tool, generating short URLs and embed codes, and exporting PDF files of maps
- A peak ahead at tool upgrades planned for the future
Following the tutorial, attendees can ask Portal team members any questions they’d like in an open Q&A session. We would also love to hear your ideas on any tool additions or enhancements that could help make the Portal more useful for you.
The session will be hosted by Portal project manager Karl Vilacoba of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute and developer Ryan Hodges of Ecotrust. To register and obtain a Zoom link, please click here.

In person at the Westin Annapolis (100 Westgate Circle Annapolis, MD 21401) and online via Webex webinar.
This meeting will be conducted as a hybrid meeting. Council members, other meeting participants, and members of the public will have the option to participate in person at the Westin Annapolis or virtually via Webex webinar. Both virtual attendees and those attending the meeting in person will use the “raise hand” function in Webex to comment, ask questions, make motions, and vote. We are recommending that all in-person attendees either be vaccinated or receive a negative COVID test prior to meeting attendance. We are also encouraging attendees to wear a mask when moving around the hotel and meeting space.
Webinar Information
The virtual portion of the meeting will be conducted via Webex webinar. No pre-registration is required. The webinar link will be the same for all four meeting days.
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Click here to join the webinar (if prompted, enter meeting number: 2330 933 4966; Meeting password: ncKMj56xX6p)
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Join by phone: For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, dial 1-415-655-0001 and enter access code: 2330 933 4966#). When asked for your attendee ID, enter #. Participants connected by phone only will need to enter *6 on their keypad to unmute/mute themselves and *3 to raise/lower their hands.
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Need Help? If you need technical assistance, please check the Webex Participant Guide. For further assistance, contact Mary Sabo at msabo@mafmc.org or 302-518-1143 (call or text).
We will also be live streaming the meeting to our YouTube channel.