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Flores: Hawaii workshop will benefit community
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Posted on Aug 15 2011
Local agencies must do spatial planning and assessment on its vast marine resources to ensure its protection and sustainability, according to Mayor Donald Flores.
Flores recently attended the Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Workshop conducted by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council in Hawaii from July 31 to Aug. 4.
He said Tinian Mayor Ramon dela Cruz and Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Richard Seman also attended the workshop.
The mayor noted that the travel was paid for by the council.
Flores said the workshop convened marine experts and government officials from various Pacific islands to learn about marine planning, spatial allocation or zoning, and identifying areas of conflict and strategies, among others.
“The workshop put together people from the Pacific region to work on having a management plan to protect the reef, identify goals and objectives, identify our marine resources’ current state, and come up with a solution address issues and problems,” Flores told Saipan Tribune.
According to Flores, these issues and problems could not be solved by only one agency or person.
“We will coordinate and assist the responsible agency in defining the problem, making a plan, and implementing it,” he said.
Flores said his attendance at the workshop enabled him to establish a network with other participants. “Now I can communicate with them so that if we have situation, we can always get assistance from them,” he said.
The mayor added that the CNMI must avail of opportunities that could be beneficial to the community such as the workshop.
