"To conserve marine resources and ecological functions for the purpose of providing long-term ecological, economic, and social value and benefits to the future generations." - Statewide Planning Goal 19

  pdf Goal 19: Ocean Resources (23 KB)

Since 1973, Oregon has maintained a strong statewide program for land use planning. The foundation of that program is a set of nineteen Statewide Land Use Planning Goals. The goals express the state's policies on land use and related topics, such as citizen involvement, housing, and natural resources.

Statewide planning goals 16-19 all focus on the diversity of coastal and marine environments around the state. Goal 19 is the primary goal focusing on the stewardship of offshore ocean resources and uses within Oregon's Territorial Sea. Since 1977, this goal has guided Oregon's policy and management of ocean resources, and it was updated in late 2000 by the Land Conservation and Development Commission. It carries the same weight as an Oregon Administrative Rule, and it provides standards and a framework for managing potentially damaging human activities that may impact ocean resources or other ocean users. This is probably the most important "applicable element" of the Oregon Coastal Management Program referred to in the law. 

 "all actions by local, state, and federal agencies that are likely to affect the ocean resources and uses of Oregon’s territorial sea shall be developed and conducted to conserve marine resources and ecological functions for the purpose of providing long-term ecological, economic, and social values and benefits and to give higher priority to the protection of renewable marine resources—i.e., living marine organisms—than to the development of non-renewable ocean resources." - Goal 19

       *It is important to note that the term "renewable marine resources" does not apply to the harvest of marine renewable energy. 

Under Goal 19, agencies are also directed to,

"protect and encourage the beneficial uses of ocean resources — such as navigation, food production, recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, and uses of the seafloor — provided that such activities do not adversely affect renewable marine resources." 

Goal 19 also recognizes the state's interest in the conservation of ocean resources within an Ocean Stewardship Area beyond the three-nautical-mile territorial sea boundary, out to the edge of the continental shelf. In addition to providing protection standards, Goal 19 creates a framework for how state and federal agencies address possible uses and impacts to ocean resources within the territorial sea. These agencies are then responsible for the maintenance, protection, and restoration of renewable marine resources and the sustainability of the benefits they offer.

Finally, Goal 19 establishes a number of potentially appropriate management measures for ocean resources and uses, and it requires state and federal agencies to establish contingency plans and emergency procedures for activities, ". . . that could, under unforeseen circumstances, result in significant risks to ocean resources and uses."