Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A short film on marine spatial planning

Last year filmmakers Chris Hannant and Gillian Montgomery interviewed Surfrider volunteers and staff, business owners, and MRC members as they travelled the state's rugged coastline. The short film explores the opportunity to protect Washington's Pacific coast through marine spatial planning. You may recognize a few of the individuals in the video as important community leaders. 



"I love the coastal region, I love the coastal estuaries and everything that makes this thing different than some place else. It's a wonderful thing and we have to preserve it. If we don't we're gonna lose one of the most important things in life" -Brady Engvall, Owner Brady's Oysters



"Marine spatial planning sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. It's really just about being smart about how we use our oceans...and there's a bunch of emerging and new uses, increasing uses- the ocean's getting crowded." -Chad Nelsen, Environmental Director Surfrider Foundation


"As we move from 7 billion people to 10 billion people there's gonna be a lot of increased pressure for development out here and I think it's important to control that development- there will be development- but it's important to use those resources wisely and to preserve what we can of the ecosystems that we have." -Doug Kess, WCMAC Chair


Watch the video here for some gorgeous footage of the coast and more heartfelt interviews. Please share this video if you know of someone who could benefit from learning about the opportunity of public involvement in marine spatial planning.