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©Dave Wrobel
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Welcome
The year 2000 has been a remarkable one
for that tried and true hallmark of the national marine sanctuary
system -- the "stakeholder" process. Perhaps no other
site in the national system has a better track record of involving
stakeholders in solving resource management problems than the
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. While "unique"
can be an overused word these days, we believe our Agricultural
and Rural Lands water quality plan is darned rare and may be unique
in our country. It involves growers and ranchers around central
California who will be taking steps to reduce pollutant runoff
and sedimentation from agricultural fields into coastal streams
and ultimately into the Sanctuary. I'm sure that this program
leads the nation in its creativity and the sheer fact that our
$5 billion regional agricultural industry has accepted its role
to help protect marine water quality. In June in San Francisco
we rolled out the results of another stakeholder initiative --
a plan to protect marine water quality by moving shipping further
offshore and providing greater vessel traffic organization along
the central California coast. Our vessel traffic strategies received
final approval by an international shipping organization in London
in May and went into effect in December. In October we completed
the design for our ecosystem monitoring program, SIMoN, developed
to integrate and expand monitoring of the Sanctuary's ecosystem.
And, after years of public dispute as to the effects of kelp harvesting,
we prepared and released a plan that evaluated kelp harvesting's
effects and recommended several means to reduce the limited adverse
effects it can have on kelp forests in the Sanctuary. All of these
efforts have one thing in common. We took the time to listen to
that broadly-defined group called stakeholders -- members of the
public, and in particular, those who may be most affected by a
resource protection program. Such a process means that rarely
will everyone get everything they want, but most often everyone
gets something they can live with and support. We are proud of
what these and many other lesser-known programs bring to understanding
and protecting the Sanctuary, and we thank our partners and the
stakeholders for their commitment to them. And, we are proud that
Ecosystem Observations 2000 offers another compelling example
of the value of partners. Thanks to all of the contributors.
William J. Douros, Superintendent NOAA's Monterey
Bay National Marine Sanctuary
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