May 18, 2006
State ocean policy: UW grad students help out
Washington’s first formal ocean policy, the blueprint for which is due on the gover-nor’s desk by the end of the year, aims to prepare for looming changes along the shores of a state renowned for its natural resources.
Much of the information gathering, synthesis and writing thus far has fallen to UW master’s students led by Marc Hershman, professor of marine affairs and adjunct professor of law. Working collaboratively with legislators, agency personnel, tribal representatives and Gov. Christine Gregoire’s staff, the students have already helped to generate a 60-page interim report, developed an e-mail newsletter and are now helping draft parts of the final report.
The state needs a policy to protect its investment in the oceans, Hershman says. Such a policy would help the state prepare to deal with such things as a growing number of toxic algal blooms or low-lying areas inundated by storms and rising sea levels triggered by global warming, he says. It also would help the state take advantage of opportunities to perhaps harness energy from the ocean’s winds, waves and tides and to make the economies of seaside communities more resilient.
The state’s efforts follow work at the national level that developed the first coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy in 30 years. Hershman — an expert on protecting and using coastal areas, developing seaports and the laws and policies governing U.S. Ocean resources — was one of 16 members on the national commission, which issued its report in 2004.
As work on the national ocean commission was winding down, Hershman started talking to state legislators about how Washington might take advantage of the work already done and answer the federal call to action. The legislature eventually passed a law requiring the governor to provide reports at the end of 2005 and 2006 on state ocean policy activities and next steps.
The UW School of Marine Affairs was one of the groups receiving a small contract from the state to help with the effort. Hershman and UW master’s students became graduate student researchers for the Ocean Policy Work Group of legislators, agency people and others that was formed by Gregoire.
Executive secretary duties for the work group fell to John Hansen, a marine affairs graduate student interested in ocean governance, policy and legislation. Each subcommittee of the work group was then assigned between one and three UW students.
“Lots of what we do in class is theoretical and involves reading,” Hansen says. “Going to meetings in Olympia gave us real interaction with stakeholder groups. Early on, we had a class session on how to look up laws in this state and elsewhere, something we put to use for the work group subcommittees, both by reviewing for them the laws already in place and suggesting where new laws might be needed.”
That and other research for the subcommittees has ranged across such topics as governance, stewardship of marine resources and coastal vulnerabilities.
Some of it is quite cutting edge, Hansen says, pointing to work by graduate student Alex Erzen who took on the task of investigating using ocean winds, waves and tides to generate energy. There were new technologies and national trends to summarize for the work group. He reviewed ongoing projects in the state and country and talked to people with the state departments of ecology and natural resources, public utility districts, private firms, tribes and the Electrical Power Research Institute of California, considered the leader in technology for tapping ocean energy.
“Without help from UW students, the work group members would have had to seek help from the employees in their organizations, which might have narrowed the perspective,” Hershman says.
As it is, Hershman says he thinks the students were needed generalists at the start of the process and really helped jump-start the state’s efforts. Now state agencies are beginning to hire people and look to consultants to carry on the process, he says. Synthesizing information into memos to be used by the work group as the members write the final report will complete the UW’s contract on the project.
Although students in marine affairs have investigated many issue-oriented topics in the past, this is the first time an official body like the governor’s office has sought out and funded a class to conduct work like this, Hershman says.
“This exercise has established a format or model on how to make this happen,” he says.
