State officials have voice before ocean commission

BOSTON – New England state officials gave their wish lists to a federal commission on ocean policy Tuesday, asking for more help and consistency from the federal government, but less bureaucratic crossover.

Representatives from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine testified before the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in Boston’s Faneuil Hall during one of a series of regional meetings. The commission is conducting a wide-ranging review of federal ocean policies on everything from fisheries to coastal development to aquaculture.

“I don’t think it’s really more direction [we’re looking for],” said Jane K. Stahl, Connecticut’s deputy commissioner of environmental protection, after her testimony, “but assistance with technical issues, and consistency in the federal government.”

The state officials, who also submitted written testimony, discussed issues such as monitoring ecosystems more effectively. But after their testimony, the commissioners pushed for more specifics.

“Assuming that [more federal government involvement] is not just a euphemism for more money, what do you see as that structure?” asked Andrew Rosenberg, a University of New Hampshire scientist who serves on the commission. Another commissioner pushed for more details on how a federal agency with a broader charge would avoid overlap.

The state representatives said they would provide more detailed answers in further written testimony.

Among those testifying:

. Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Secretary Robert Durand called attention to federal “regulatory gaps” that challenge the state as it confronts complicated projections such as a proposed wind farm to generate electricity in Nantucket Sound.

“One of our principal recommendations to the commission is to strengthen the federal government’s role in ocean governance, in partnership with the states,” Durand said.

. Stahl, of Connecticut, offered more specific suggestions, including structuring federal highway funding to include money to protect oceans from runoff, and incentives to discourage agricultural pollution. She also called on the federal government to provide more technical assistance in areas such as aerial photography. “The haves already have these tools. The have-nots are struggling to get ahold of them,” she said.

. Evan D. Richert, director of Maine’s State Planning Office, said experts and authorities simply need better information about the effects of various policies on oceans, which requires backing from Washington. “Right now we’re not throwing darts exactly, but it’s very difficult because we don’t have knowledge of the working components of the Gulf of Maine,” he said.

. New Hampshire, where the two counties along its short seacoast have grown by 230,000 people since 1960, wants more effective federal government intervention on issues such as coastal management without supplanting state institutions, said David Hartman, manager of the coastal program in the office of state planning. “Do not forget about the huge successes we have had in improving the health of our coastal areas,” he said.

The commission already has issued a draft document outlining issues it hopes to address in its final report, which it will present to Congress. It heard from scientific panels Tuesday afternoon and was expected to listen to public comments when the meeting resumes today.