Management Strategies For North Carolina's Estuarine Shoreline: Report Of The Estuarine Policy Steering Committee

From 2007-2009, the North Carolina Coastal Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center (Center), North Carolina Sea Grant College Program and North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) partnered to study emerging issues for managing the state's ocean shoreline. This study was known as the Ocean Policy Study. This two-year effort, which included input from a statewide steering committee and the public, resulted in a final report that was submitted to the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC). The Ocean Policy Study's final report, "Strategies for North Carolina's Coastal Ocean," identified five major emerging issues - sand resource management, renewable energy development, ocean outfalls, marine aquaculture and comprehensive ocean management - and developed policy recommendations for each issue. During the Ocean Policy Study, the Center received requests from the public to conduct a similar study for the state's estuarine shoreline. This study is the outcome of those discussions, thus completing a comprehensive study of the emerging management and policy issues for the entire North Carolina coast.