OA Alliance Hosts Mid-Atlantic Ocean Acidification Workshop

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

On September 10-11, more than 50 representatives from six U.S. states, federal government agencies and partners including the National Aquarium, PEW, and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators met in Baltimore to discuss the state of ocean acidification in the Mid-Atlantic and the best ways for U.S. states to lead local response.

Hosted by the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification (OA Alliance) and the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Acidification Network (MACAN), the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Acidification Workshop strengthened the connectivity between regionally-coordinated science and state governments policies including ocean acidification (OA), climate or ocean action plans.

“For more than a decade, U.S. states have been transforming climate-ocean policy. Effective management of OA requires a nuanced understanding of ocean and coastal acidification and the relationships—or tradeoffs—between establishing new management tools and leveraging existing programs” said Mr. Ben Grumbles, Executive Director of the Environmental Council of States in the keynote presentation.

To better understand regional trends and approaches for managing ocean and coastal acidification, the U.S. Coastal Acidification Networks (CANs) have been working at the intersection of science, policy, industry, education and outreach. In the United States there are 7 CAN networks operating with funding support from NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program.  MACAN includes membership from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Together, members seek to answer questions about the intensity, frequency, and location of acidification events in the region, including whether acidification events are caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide entering the ocean, land-based pollution sources like wastewater, or something else.

 Together, workshop participants discussed the priority knowledge needs that will best inform local intervention strategies in responding to OA and provide managers a more complete picture of local drivers, conditions, risks and solutions.

Day one of the workshop explored ocean acidification’s role in climate change communications, using storytelling to expand climate-ocean change narratives and bring a personal focus to the issue. Participants paid a visit to the National Aquarium to learn about the exhibits and reflect on climate communications for public action taking.  “We encourage visitors to talk to their friends, talk to their communities about climate change.  Every voice matter when it comes to affecting change; individuals make a big difference in a positive way,” said Jennifer Driban, National Aquarium Chief Mission Officer.  OA messages can enhance communications around climate-ocean change and the need to take local, regional and global actions.  

 For example, NOAA’s OA Program partnered with the OA Alliance and the Aquarium Conservation Partnership just last year on a creative communications project, “Exploring Our Changing Ocean: Impacts and Response to Ocean Acidification in the U.S.A.”  The project presents information and calls to action that associated aquarium partners and science institutions can utilize across larger climate change narratives and outreach efforts.  The Mid-Atlantic has a dedicated OA Story Map for partners in the region, “Exploring Ocean Acidification from Long Island through Virginia.”

 The focus on day two was to support states in identifying OA information for policy and management action.  Content was divided into three parts: (1) Developing Risk and Vulnerability Assessments; (2) Measuring Coastal Acidification for Mitigation; (3) Evaluating and Deploying Blue Carbon Ecosystems.

 Each theme included states’ perspectives on policy priorities alongside the research and science activities occurring in the region that could be strengthened to support states in their efforts.

 Next steps emerging from the workshop discussions will occur in 2025 with an emphasis on:

• Climate and ocean change communications tools featured by the National Aquarium with inputs from NOAA.

• Measuring and reporting coastal and ocean acidification for water quality regulatory bodies, best practices and takeaways from states leading the way.

• Developing standard OA inputs for state risk assessments and developing a rubric for identifying OA risk factors, including vulnerability assessments that include coastal community, seafood economy and environmental justice aspects.

“The event was very successful in bringing together state and federal policy leads, science practitioners and communications experts across the region,” said Jessie Turner, Director of the OA Alliance, “at the OA Alliance, we work to curate the conditions for productive science to policy conversations on the topic of ocean acidification in the United States and around the world.”

We want to thank all our partners for helping us make this a reality.

 For more information on the event please visit this link.