Rhode Island Sea Grant staffers recommend multi-use approach at shoreline to help ocean communities

July 24, 2024

“Multi-use” is the way to go in ecosystem management planning.

That’s what staff from the University of Rhode Island say in a paper recently published for the worldwide ocean community in Oceanography magazine.

The URI team had its work featured in a special issue of the Oceanography Society’s premier journal, with a spotlight on work happening in the Northeast, highlighting the University as a national leader in the Sea Grant network.

Rhode Island Sea Grant programs offer expertise in coastal resilience, ocean planning, offshore wind energy, seafood and marine law to southern New England and nationally, applying knowledge of local science and knowledge, and ecology to solve problems facing our coastal communities.

Jennifer McCann and Sue Kennedy from Rhode Island Sea Grant discussed these concerns and URI-based projects in the recent article.

McCann is director of extension programs for Rhode Island Sea Grant and the U.S. Programs at the Coastal Resources Center at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, leading research that assists coastal managers and communities in Rhode Island and around the world. McCann served as URI’s lead for developing and facilitating the Rhode Island Ocean Special Area Management Plan, the first formally adopted ocean spatial plan in the United States. She brings to the Sea Grant network special expertise in ocean planning, including contributing to the development of the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the nation. That plan took into consideration the many uses of the waters off Rhode Island, looking at fishing areas, trade routes, cable lines, Navy uses, flight paths, historical resources and sites, habitat, and more.

As part of the planning process, McCann regularly brought European experts to share their experiences with U.S. counterparts facing these offshore wind developments for the first time. Because of this work, McCann now serves as the National Sea Grant’s offshore wind energy liaison, providing technical support and guidance to all 34 University-based Sea Grant Programs around the country.

McCann co-authored the Oceanography journal article with Kennedy, a veteran communications specialist at URI’s Coastal Resources Center and Rhode Island Sea Grant. Prior to her work at CRC/RISG, Kennedy served as a reporter and editor at several community newspapers in Rhode Island and worked for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, so she has firsthand knowledge of public perspectives on the coastline.

Coastal cooperation

Multi-use in the seaside context means cooperative relationships — an aquaculture farmer harvesting seaweed and shellfish in a leased area of an offshore wind farm, a charter boat captain tapping into turbine sensors for weather and traffic data needed to navigate a boatload of recreational anglers to productive fishing grounds, commercial fishermen deploying innovative gear on modified vessels to fish within wind farms.

While there is growing interest and investment in promoting such a multi-use approach in ocean spaces the world over, definitions and visions for the approach vary.

Sea Grant staff say that differing viewpoints can find agreement on one point: existing frameworks largely fail to provide a path forward in terms of supporting and incentivizing collaboration. While conditions that enable multi-use implementation within the context of the accelerated growth of offshore wind development are weak, Rhode Island Sea Grant has identified priority actions that would strengthen opportunities and encourage more collaboration.

“More must be done to proactively provide resources to primary industries, such as commercial fishing, and local communities to ensure they can invest the considerable time and energy needed to work together to find points of interaction and cooperation,” says McCann.

Building coastal resilience

In the same issue of Oceanography, Pam Rubinoff, associate coastal manager of coastal resilience for Rhode Island Sea Grant, co-authored an article on ways that Sea Grant programs help communities build resilience to coastal climate hazards, sharing how the Rhode Island Sea Grant team has connected emergency managers, planners, and researchers to develop critical flood modeling assessments at Naval Station Newport.

Rubinoff has also initiated the creation of Coastal Smart Growth Principles, collaborated in the development of Rhode Island’s state sea level rise policy, identified hazard mitigation initiatives for the state’s urban core, and initiated Smart Hurricane Recovery for southern Rhode Island.

The article cites growing challenges faced by coastal communities across the U.S., especially as climate change increases the risks associated with coastal hazards and weather extremes. 

Looking toward the future

Progress toward more collaboration is being made, McCann says, citing legislation introduced in Congress to improve permitting, coordination, and cooperation among agencies, offshore wind energy developers, and stakeholders.

And the COLLABORATE (Create Offshore Leadership and Livelihood Alignment By Operating Responsibly And Together for the Environment) Act, presented by U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island in January, illustrates the need for efficiency and effectiveness in the offshore wind energy development process. In addition, the establishment of a cooperative research and development agreement between URI and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is advancing collaborative research and ocean planning solutions connected to the interactions of offshore wind energy development and other maritime uses.

To learn more about Rhode Island Sea Grant, visit seagrant.gso.uri.edu. Email rhodeislandseagrant@gmail.com to receive local Sea Grant news and updates.