Welcome to CZ-Mail, the monthly email update from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). This update provides information on major CZM initiatives, available tools and publications, upcoming workshops and events, grants, contracting opportunities, job openings, coastal legislation, and other news of interest to people working on coastal issues. More information about CZM's programs, publications, and other coastal topics can be found online at http://www.mass.gov/czm/. If you have suggestions on how to make CZ-Mail more useful, would like to add your name to the mailing list, or would like to have your name removed, please email your request to CZ-Mail@state.ma.us.

Ocean Management
Presentations from the July 30-31 Massachusetts Ocean Management Workshop are now available. The next meeting of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Task Force is scheduled for September 5 and will be held in Essex. At this meeting, the Task Force will review draft Ocean Management Principles and will finalize the Task Force schedule. Interested members of the public should contact Sarah Joor for more information.

Coast Guard Seeks Comments on Mandatory Ballast Water Management Program
The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking comments on its proposed Mandatory Ballast Water Management Program. The goal of the program is to increase the Coast Guard's ability to protect U.S. waters from the introduction of nonindigenous species through ballast water discharge. Comments are due by October 28. See the Federal Register notice for details.

Funding Opportunities
Habitat Restoration Grants - The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC) is soliciting proposals for habitat restoration projects (including engineering studies, restoration work, and post-restoration monitoring) in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. This program is funded through a $430,000 grant from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. Letters of intent (optional, but recommended) are due by September 29 and final applications are due by November 14. For contact information and the full Request for Proposals, see the GOMC opportunities page.

Coastal Services Center Grants - The NOAA Coastal Services Center Broad Area Announcement for fiscal year 2004 has been published in the Federal Register. This grants program provides funding for the following program areas: landscape characterization and restoration, GIS integration and development, coastal remote sensing, and information resources. See the announcement for details and proposals are due in October.

Community-Based Restoration Grants - Through NOAA's Community-Based Restoration Program, funds are available for grass-roots projects to restore fish habitat. Applications are due by September 12 and additional information is available through the call for projects.

Reminders - The following grants listed in the August CZ-Mail are still open:

• The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences/Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research is soliciting proposals for projects to develop an ecological forecasting capability that balances conservation and wise use of coastal resources. See the Federal Register notice for the announcement, which closes November 4.
  
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is providing funding to states and communities under its Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants Program. These grants can be used to implement a sustained pre-disaster natural hazard mitigation program to reduce overall risk to the population and structures, while also reducing reliance on funding from actual disaster declarations. The closing date is October 6. See the Federal Register notice announcing the grants for details. For more on the program, see the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants Program web page.

Products/Publications
National Shoreline Management Study - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is undertaking a National Shoreline Management Study to examine the status of the Nation's shoreline for the first time in 30 years to provide a basis for Federal shoreline management actions. The first report from this study, entitled The Corps of Engineers and Shore Protection: History, Projects, Costs is now available. A web page is available with a link to a PDF copy of the report, along with additional information on the overall study.

Reminders - The following publications listed in the August CZ-Mail are still available:

• The 2003 edition of Coastlines, the CZM magazine, is now available electronically and features articles on the shipping industry. For a copy, or to add your name to the Coastlines mailing list, email your request to czm@state.ma.us.
• Biological Invaders: Threats from Aquatic Invasive Species and What You Can Do to Keep Them Out of Our Waters is a fact sheet on the invasive species issue, which includes specific tips on how to prevent invasive species introductions. For a hard copy, please email your request to czm@state.ma.us. The electronic version of the Coastlines article, which served as the basis for this fact sheet, is also available in HTML and PDF.
• Environmental Permitting in Massachusetts is a web-based CZM publication that gives permitting guidance for project proponents, consultants, and regulators.

Websites
Coastlines 2003 Online - The 2003 edition of Coastlines, the CZM magazine, is now available electronically. This edition features the shipping industry, with articles on Massachusetts' ports, environmental issues associated with shipping, and shipping and right whales. Other articles cover CZM's 25th anniversary, Liberty Ships, giant squid, stormwater, Marion, coastal trails, and ships in a bottle.

Dredged Material Management Plan Technical Reports - CZM has compiled the technical reports developed through the Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) process. These publications characterize the environmental and economic issues surrounding dredged material management in the Commonwealth, providing information on marine resources (sediment type and quality, seafloor habitat, fisheries, and archaeology) and the impacts associated with dredging and dredged material disposal.

Massachusetts General Laws - The Massachusetts General Laws website has been updated to include all changes through May of 2003.

National Geographic Oceans Page - The National Geographic News website has a page devoted to articles on oceans.

Planetary Photo Journal - NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency have generated a complete global topographic data set produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. See the press release with details on this data set, along with links to the available images.

Calendar
COASTSWEEP 2003 - September 20 marks the kickoff day of the 16th annual COASTWEEP, the state-wide beach cleanup sponsored by CZM (and starting this year organized by the Urban Harbors Institute of UMass Boston). Cleanups are held throughout September and October and thousands of volunteers turn out to remove trash and other marine debris from hundreds of beaches. For details, see the Coastsweep website.

Forum on the Management and Protection of Nantucket Sound - On September 17 at 7 pm, the Center for Coastal Studies is presenting a forum entitled, "Nantucket Sound: Options for Management & Protection" at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Panelists include Peter Borrelli, executive director of Center for Coastal Studies; Richard Delaney, executive director of the Urban Harbors Institute; Jack Aylmer, former Massachusetts state senator and former president of Massachusetts Maritime Academy; and Robert Jones, vice president of the Barnstable Town Council. The forum will be moderated by Armando Carbonell, senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and former executive director of the Cape Cod Commission. Advanced registration is recommended. For additional information and to register, email Theresa Barbo, Forum Coordinator, Center for Coastal Studies.

Reminders: The following calendar items posted in the August CZ-Mail are still to come:

• The Massachusetts Coastal Training Program maintains a calendar of workshops and other training events for coastal decision makers and others interested in managing the coastal zone. For more information, see http://www.whoi.edu/science/coastaltraining/events/index.htm.
• The Boston Harbor Islands Science Symposium and the Boston Harbor Educators Conference will be held from October 4-7. For details see: http://www.bostonislands.com/science/index.html.

In the News
Here are links to newspaper articles from the last month on coastal issues: (Articles may only be available for a limited time.)

• WHOI tower gathers data at air/ocean boundary (Martha's Vineyard Times, 8/28/03).
• Whales cause stir at harbor (Cape Cod Times, 8/28/03).
• Ice ages key to understanding change (Boston Globe, 8/26/03).
• Judge rules against foes of wind farm (Boston Globe, 8/21/03).
• Whale deaths remain a puzzle (Cape Cod Times, 8/20/03).
• Oceans suffer attention deficit in journals (National Geographic News, 8/19/03).
• Developer seeks public support (Cape Cod Times, 8/19/03).
• Hawaii beaches harbor dirty secret (abcNEWS.com, 8/13/03).
• Corps weighs different locations (Cape Cod Times, 8/12/03).
• Progress slow on Sound proposal (Cape Cod Times, 8/12/03).
• American lobsters wanted dead or alive (abcNEWS.com, 8/12/03).
• Above-average hurricane season predicted (Cape Cod Times, 8/11/03).
• "Dirty fishing" emptying oceans (National Geographic News, 8/11/03).
• Discovery could save threatened ocean life (The Globe and Mail, 8/11/03).
• Underwater invaders eyed (Boston Globe, 8/9/03).
• Kennedy opposes wind farm (Boston Globe, 8/8/03).
• California agency warns of risks in tapping ocean for water (CNN.com, 8/8/03).
• Pollution woes persist at beaches in harbor (Boston Globe, 8/7/03).
• Towns pressed for storm-water plans (Boston Globe, 8/7/03).
• Plovers gone; beach opens (Cape Cod Times, 8/4/03).
• Closing bugs vacationers (Cape Cod Times, 8/1/03).
• BRA OKs public access plan for Fort Point Channel area (Boston Globe, 8/1/03).

Other Items of Interest
Nominate a Visionary - The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC) is seeking nominations for Gulf of Maine Visionary and Longard Volunteer Awards. Nominations must be received by October 10. See the GOMC opportunities page for details.

A Call for Action on Ocean Issues - After a two-day summit on regional island cooperation, the All Islands' Committee, which includes the U.S. Island states of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, issued a statement outlining a Plan of Action to restore the balance between human activities and healthy ocean and coastal resources. The statement called on the Administration, Congress, and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to take immediate steps to enhance efforts to protect and restore ocean and coastal resources. The summit included a youth mentoring component where interested high school students followed the sessions and provided a conference summary that was brief, to the point, humorous, and showed how much they had learned. A PDF copy of the resolution is available.

A publication of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award No. NA17OZ1125. This publication is funded (in part) by a grant/cooperative agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies.