Coastal and marine spatial planning to manage activities around coastal areas and on the water are well used in the United States and Europe.
The idea behind the planning is to look at a number of values within an area — ecological, economic, social and culture — and analyze the impact development would have on them and on how they might impact one another.
Geoff Coughlan says the planning attempts to capture and map the location to find what’s compatible and where conflicts might arise.
Coughlan, of the Marine Institute’s school of fisheries, gave a presentation on Developing Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Capacity in Newfoundland and Labrador at an ACAP Humber Arm Coastal Matters session at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland on Tuesday.
He said the end result is to develop a more comprehensive and proactive plan for a marine area.
Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, Coughlan said, the province has identified its coastal ocean policy and management framework at the strategic level.
But within that, he said, it’s recognized that using these technology such as geographic information systems and computer mapping can support decision making.
Coughlan said while there isn’t a real spatial plan to say where and when different activities should occur, there has been involvement at the federal and provincial levels in helping to bring information together to help inform decision making.
He said the Marine Institute wants to help develop the capacities to support those efforts, to learn from others and utilize resources and expertise.
The school is currently in the process of developing a masters program in marine spatial planning and management.
He said the school recognizes that marine spatial planning is increasingly becoming the accepted mechanism to move from the strategic levels of planning and management to implementing some of those approaches.
The program is still moving through the approval stage with Marine Institute and Memorial University of Newfoundland with the aim to start the first class in September 2015.
The two-year program will involve an online study component along with face-to-face instruction, a project and internships with a potential international connection.
Coughlan said the program will be of interest to individuals from a number of backgrounds including biology, geography, environmental studies and, because it deals with management, even those in business.
Following the Coastal Matters session Coughlan met with officials from Grenfell and the College of the North Atlantic about the role the two schools could play in developing and offering the program.