The Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Conservation is a commitment by the executive branches of five states to create a comprehensive, regional approach to coastal and ocean management.

In 2009, the governors of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia signed the agreement, which created a shared understanding of the challenges facing the ecosystem and established guiding principles to address them.

Among the aims of the effort is the creation of stronger partnerships to overcome jurisdictional barriers and coordinate state actions. One key strategy is the use of coastal and marine spatial planning.

The agreement created a governance structure to oversee the drafting of an action plan and its implementation.

• Scale: Focus on the health of the ecosystem across political boundaries and scales.
• Balance/integration: Commitment to protect sensitive sites while incorporating new uses of the ocean.

Mission

The Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement was signed to maintain and improve the health of the ocean and coastal resources, and ensure they continue contribute to the region’s quality of life and economic vitality.

Objectives

The agreement established the following priorities to improve ocean health:

• Coordinate protection of important habitats and sensitive and unique offshore areas on a regional scale.
• Promote improvements in the region’s coastal water quality as a necessary focal point for regional action.
• Collaborate on a regional approach to support the sustainable development of renewable energy in offshore areas.
• Prepare the region’s coastal communities for the impacts of climate change on ocean and coastal resources.

Coastal zone management agencies of the five Mid-Atlantic states:

• Delaware
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• New York
• Virginia

• Appropriate federal agencies
• Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council
• Marine stakeholders

Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean

The council serves as a high-level forum for interstate collaboration. It consists of the governors of the five Mid-Atlantic states.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee coordinates state activities and implements the directions of the council. Members of the committee are agency leaders designated by the governors who are responsible for directing state agency personnel to address the priorities of the council.

Management Board

The Management Board includes state Coastal Zone Management directors and senior policy advisors.

Action Teams

Five Action Teams have been formed to focus on priority issues. The teams include state staff with experience in each issue.

Historically, state ocean and coastal management programs in the United States were conducted on an issue-by-issue basis and were not well-coordinated across local and state jurisdictions.

In 2003 and 2004, the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released reports that recommended improved coordination among government bodies as well as the management of oceans on an ecosystem level.

The governors of the Mid-Atlantic states endorsed regional governance approaches, finding that a regional approach would lead to cooperative and constructive relationships among the states, avoid unintentional conflicts, and improve regulatory processes. By working together, the states also would receive greater attention for their priority issues from the federal government.

Conversations on developing a regional approach began in July 2008 at the prompting of state officials from New York, who commissioned a white paper, “Considerations for a Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Initiative on Ocean and Coastal Conservation.” The white paper examined other ocean partnerships and began identifying priority issues in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In 2009, the governors of the five Mid-Atlantic states signed the Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Conservation.

The Ecosystem

The coastal environment of the Mid-Atlantic region is crucial to providing economic and ecosystem services to the residents of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Threats

The Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement identified the following threats to the ecosystem:

• Climate change is increasing coastal erosion, threatening to flood public infrastructure and low-lying coastal communities and harm sensitive habitat.
• Human activities are threatening important habitats, such as deep submarine canyons that serve as migratory corridors for vulnerable species.
• Run-off and poorly treated wastewater is degrading coastal water quality.
• New uses of the ocean, such as providing alternative energy sources, are desirable, but must be instituted in a way to minimize their potential impacts.

The 2011-2012 program workplan included the following broad strategies:

• Identify key ocean habitats.
• Develop guidelines to assist regulators and developers in making decisions relative to the siting of off-shore energy systems.
• Begin work on a regional vulnerability assessment for the impacts of sea-level rise.
• Initiative a Mid-Atlantic coastal and marine spatial planning process in conjunction with the National Ocean Council.
• Evaluate opportunities to address atmospheric Nitrogen deposition to marine waters and develop programs to control the most significant impacts from marine debris.

The Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement included a commitment by the governors to periodically review the broad policy direction of the agreement and identify new priority issues for interstate collaboration.

Priority-Based Plan

The Mid-Atlantic Governors’ Agreement has resulted in the development of a consensus-based, priority-setting workplan that identified shared actions to tackle shared concerns.