Marine Policy Institute | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

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The issues our oceans face today are extremely complex and involve many different perspectives. The Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory was created in 2006 to improve the connection between science and society and strengthen the scientific basis of public policy and societal decision making—especially as it relates to economic development and the sustainability of our oceans and coastal ecosystems.

The Institute serves as an independent, objective group that analyzes and translates results, findings, and related information into formats useful for the public—particularly decision-makers and members of a concerned community. This includes special reports designed to offer assessments and advice.

As stated in the 2010-2014 strategic plan, the mission of the Policy Institute is to “strengthen the scientific basis of public policy and societal decision making for economic development and sustainability of our oceans and coastal ecosystems.”

Mote scientists during a dive at the Captiva blue hole

The Vision

The Institute is led by an Advisory Committee of leading national experts, chosen for their diverse backgrounds and expertise. This committee helps to set the Institute’s priorities and guide its activities.

The Advisory Committee Chairman is Dr. Michael Orbach, professor of Marine Affairs and Policy and Director of the Coastal Environmental Management Program in the School of the Environment at Duke University.
The Institute’s Director, Barbara Lausche, J.D., has extensive experience in national and international environmental law, especially as it relates to marine issues.
Dr. Frank Alcock is the Marine Policy Institute’s immediate past Director, and he continues to serve as a senior fellow. Alcock is a former Belfer Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.In addition to this excellent staff and Advisory Committee, the Marine Policy Institute strives to create additional partnerships with other organizations, especially focused on the Gulf of Mexico region. As stated in the 2010-2014 strategic plan, the long-term vision for the Institute is “to be recognized as an organization that focuses on both opportunities and problems in the marine and coastal environment with the view of promoting better integration of the natural and social sciences and improved knowledge for decision-makers and stakeholder groups on issues that require public policy attention.”

Policy Areas

Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise in the face of climate change

There is broad scientific consensus that global climate is warming largely as a result of increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Sea level rise in the coming decades is anticipated to be a major effect of climate change with mostly negative impacts for many coastal regions, including Florida.

Managing the impacts of sea level rise will require adapting human activities in the coming decades through decisive policies, programs and actions so that critical human systems—communities, economies, emergency response systems—and natural resources—wetlands, coastal ecosystems, fisheries—can continue to function effectively as ‘resilient’ systems in the face of climate change.

Scientists advise that many anticipated impacts from sea level rise can be addressed through early planning and well-designed adaptive responses.

The Marine Policy Institute undertakes research on policy tools and opportunities that can help local Florida governments develop strategies to deal with climate-associated sea level rise and adapt to its impacts.

In 2009, MPI published a synopsis entitled “Policy Tools for Local Adaptation to Sea Level Rise.” The synopsis condenses main issues and observations from the full report and abstracts the full assessment in the following sections:

Basics about climate change science and sea level rise.
Highlights from policy tools for local adaptation to sea level rise.
Key principles of adaptation from emerging experience.
Leadership opportunities going forward.

See sea level rise in action with an interactive map of sea level rise in Sarasota or take our short survey on sea level rise and climate change.

Sea level rise activity elsewhere

The Marine Policy Institute (MPI) at Mote Marine Laboratory has been monitoring how other coastal jurisdictions are responding to climate-related sea level rise with adaptation policies and actions to address negative impacts over the near and long term.

MPI has researched key aspects of these initiatives and periodically prepares summaries of the processes and policy responses underway. The objective is to help provide information about experiences and lessons being learned elsewhere to help local decision makers along Florida’s Gulf Coast stay informed about the latest sea level rise adaptation strategies.

San Fransisco, CA
Chula Vista, CA

StormSmart

StormSmart Connect: A Gulf of Mexico Network on Coastal Coordination Abstract by Luke Maier, Intern with Mote’s Marine Policy Institute

The Marine Policy Institute (MPI) monitors some of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s (GoMA) web tools to keep track of what other coastal communities, counties, and states in the Gulf of Mexico are doing to address climate change, especially concerning sea level rise. The community is encouraged to also utilize these web tools.

GoMA began with an agreement among the Governors of the 5 Gulf states, including Florida. GoMA focuses on five main categories, with Mote’s MPI being most involved in the Coastal Community Resilience and Community of Practice working groups to contribute to regional discourse on sea level rise.The GoMA Governors’ Action Plan 2, adopted by the five then governors of the Gulf states, called for an online intercoastal information network to be set up; this role has now been fulfilled by StormSmart. Floridian coastal communities can especially benefit from connecting to StormSmart, as it facilitates storm planning and sea level rise planning—environmental developments particularly pertinent to this area.

StormSmart’s primary uses:

Connect with coastal decision makers and disaster planners.
Spread information about coastal research and events.
Act as a repository for research and information resources.

StormSmart’s tools:

Links to major coastal storm and climate chance planning tools and research.
Online collaboration networks, large and small.
Weekly updates on regional science activities in the Gulf of Mexico States.
Calendar of collaboration events with GoMA.
State-by-state disaster response resource inventories of GoMA states.
Document and research report repository.

For instance, StormSmart contains links to the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council and Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program’s Charlotte Harbor Vulnerability Assessment, which recommends adaption tools for sea level rise and other climate coping.StormSmart also lists tools such as Hazard Identification and Mitigation reports specific to each member state.

The network currently supports 48 networking groups and 571 members from across the nation with most members coming from the Gulf states. The network houses working groups that focus on certain topics. Connect at: www.stormsmart.org.

Presentations

Sea Level Change: moving toward adaptation presented by Barbara Lausche, Director, Marine Policy Institute

Red Tide

The Marine Policy Institute released its first policy assessment in August 2007, offering an overview of past and current red tide research and providing recommendations for future efforts.

The document provides an overview of historical and current red tide research and public discussion, covering areas as diverse as the cause of Florida’s red tide and governance issues, to the effects red tide has on Florida residents and marine species and the state’s economy.

According to MPI Director Dr. Alcock, a former Belfer Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a key theme of the Institute’s work is on land-sea interactions. The public concern surrounding red tides — including questions about interactions between coastal runoff and bloom severity and duration — made the topic a natural for the Institute’s first report.

“There have been decades of research surrounding Florida’s red tide — and much has been learned,” he said. “Yet research has failed to identify a primary cause for the blooms, leading to frustration among policymakers, stakeholder groups and the general public. We can’t let unresolved questions detract from two important agendas: reducing coastal pollution and responding to red tide. Florida needs to reduce coastal pollution for reasons that go beyond red tide, and its response to red tide needs to go beyond reducing coastal pollution. We need to push forward with both agendas regardless of their linkage.”

The Institute initiated its assessment of Florida red tide with the following tasks in mind:

Survey the broad range of research activity pertaining to Florida red tides
Translate research results into understandable language
Synthesize and integrate the most relevant research findings in a manner that responds to the most pressing questions put forth by policy makers, stakeholders, scientists and the public
Assess alternative management strategies and existing regulatory frameworks
Provide guidance where appropriate

Read the full report: An Assessment of Florida Red Tide: Causes, Consequences and Management Strategies

Oil Drilling in the Gulf

In 2010, the Director of Mote’s Marine Policy Institute, Dr. Frank Alcock produced a report to Florida’s Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida called “Potential Impacts of Oil & Gas Explorations in the Gulf.”

The report, co-authored with Tom Arthur, was requested by the Florida Senate to assist that body with a detailed and comprehensive review of the implications of offshore drilling.

The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster occurred during the spring and summer of 2010. This incident, combined with the potential that vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska could be opened to oil and natural gas drilling, have continued to feed Florida’s discussion of oil and natural gas exploration.

The report was written to provide a source of unbiased information regarding what is known and not known about the potential risks and rewards of offshore drilling. The Report is structured around four topics:

Regulatory Framework
Resources, Economic Benefits, and Energy Independence
Environmental Risks, Permitting and Accident Response
Aesthetics and Opportunity Costs

Land-Sea Interactions Symposium

On Oct. 12 and 13, 2009, the Marine Policy Institute presented a two-day symposium at Mote Marine Laboratory focused on coastal zone planning in the context of changing land-sea interactions in the Southwest Florida region. The symposium focused on the growth management challenges posed by sea-level rise.

Topics included:

Land use and associated property rights issues
Emergency preparedness and post-disaster planning
Leadership roles for the public and private sectors, including local, state and federal governments
Regional governance capacity building

Press Release announcing this important event

Marine Protected Areas

In 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Environmental Law Centre published IUCN’s first guidelines on protected areas legislation. Since then, ecosystems have faced growing threats from factors such as habitat loss, invasive species and extractive activities as well as climate change, among many others. During this time, it has also been recognized globally that protected areas play a critical role in securing ecosystems and their economic and social value, and that international agreements and national law in turn play a critical role in securing protected areas.

From 2007-2010, Dr. Barbara Lausche worked with experts from IUCN’s Commission on Environmental Law, World Commission on Protected Areas, Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, and Global Programme on Protected Areas have collaborated with the IUCN Environmental Law Centre to produce new Guidelines for Protected Areas Legislation. These update and expand the 1980 guidelines and are a useful tool to those working on protected areas legislation to ensure that all aspects of protected areas, including ongoing, new and emerging issues, are appropriately addressed in law.

Institute Support

The start-up phase of the Marine Policy Institute at Mote (2006-2010) was generously funded through a grant provided by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice.

Additional funding has been provided by the New Amsterdam Charitable Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald B. Morris and through a partnership with New College of Florida.

Memberships

IUCN Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas consortium (ICCA), invited honorary member as of January 2017
Invited member of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Specialist Group on Connectivity Conservation, technical lead on global law and policy (February 2017)

Presentations

UNDP on Legal Preparedness for implementing National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan requirements under the Convention on Biological Diversity (4 part series)
Legal Tools and Strategies to Support Marine Conservation.