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 Coast and Ocean Regional Roundtable (CORRT) Project
Making connections between coastal land use practices and
growing impacts to marine resources is the focus of PCLF’s
Coast and Ocean Regional Roundtable (CORRT) Project. Among the most
urgent issues are transport of land-based contaminants and pollutants
via coastal streams discharging to the ocean, degraded wildlife habitat
and coastal watershed ecosystems, and impacts to wetlands and beaches
from nonpoint source pollution associated with urban and rural runoff.
California is among the first states in the nation to establish guiding legislation to improve coastal and marine resource management, including the state’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) (1999) and the California Ocean Protection Act (COPA) (2004). Most recently, California joined with its sister West Coast states of Oregon and Washington to initiate the West Coast Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Health (2006), a cooperative effort to achieve:
- Clean coastal waters and beaches;
- Healthy ocean and coastal habitats;
- Effective ecosystem-based management;
- Increased ocean awareness and literacy among the region’s citizens;
- Expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research, and monitoring; and
- Sustainable economic development of coastal communities.
Successful implementation of these policies will depend upon the collaborative efforts of coastal communities to develop regional strategies and stewardship practices that restore and protect our precious coastal and ocean resources.
PCLF is taking action to conduct the CORRT Project in three coastal counties:
- Santa Cruz
- Monterey
- San Luis Obispo
CORRT will provide a platform to establish a strategic nexus between land-based and marine conservation programs within each county. At the regional level, these relationships are not likely to develop without a distinct mechanism to create innovative dialogue about the impact of land-use policy decisions on marine resources. CORRT can help to meet that need at the regional level, catalyzing critical action for collaborative efforts to improve coastal and marine resources.
For more information contact Monica Hunter |
