Coastal & Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) is a regionally-based planning process for analyzing current and anticipated uses of coastal and marine areas. Executive Order 13547 established a National Ocean Policy and created an interagency National Ocean Council tasked with developing actions to address issues challenging our oceans and coastal areas, including CMSP. To assist the National Ocean Council, a Governance Coordinating Committee has been established with representation from each region.

Dr. Bill Walker serves on the Governance Coordinating Committee (GCC) as the State Regional Representative for the Gulf of Mexico. The GCC is developing a national framework for nine priority objectives, one of which is CMSP. The GCC is also involved with the development of the model charter for the Regional Planning Bodies (RPBs).

Once the national CMSP framework is presented, the Gulf and other regions will establish Regional Planning Bodies (RPB) to develop customized CMS Plans for the regions. The Alliance hopes to play a significant role on the RPB for the Gulf and to provide leadership in the development of the regional CMS Plan.

On behalf of the Alliance, the AMT recently submitted comments to the National Ocean Council regarding the development of the national Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Strategic Action Plan.

More information regarding the CMSP process can be found at www.cmsp.noaa.gov.