Castro joins CSO Executive Committee

At the annual Coastal States Organization winter meeting held from March 2-4, 2015 in Washington, D.C., Fran Castro, director for the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality’s Division of Coastal Resources Management, was voted into the Executive Committee for CSO to represent the island states and territories. Castro was nominated to chair the CSO Islands Working Group by Hawaii CZM Program director Leo Asuncion and received a unanimous vote into the committee by 34 delegates from coastal states and territories.

The Islands Work Group serves to inform CSO members of pertinent coastal issues in the islands and territories. Because the islands and territories face unique challenges in coastal hazards and climate change, there is a need for increased communication amongst the work group. The island work group priorities are to facilitate interaction and networking between island members, and serve as a resource to CSO staff and members on island coastal issues.

“I am honored to be a part of the Coastal States Organization’s Islands Work Group representing the islands states and territories,” said Castro. “I look forward to working with my counterparts as we identify solutions to address coastal issues in our respective islands.”

While new to coastal resources management, Castro is not new to intergovernmental bodies. She also serves at the CNMI’s point of contact to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and is the chairperson for the U.S. Coral Reef All Islands Committee. She also represents the CNMI in various climate change efforts, the Pacific Regional Planning Body for Coastal and Marine Planning, chairperson for the Pacific Regional Ocean Partnership, and Focal Point for the Micronesia Challenge initiative.

The Coastal States Organization was established in 1970 to represent the governors of the nation’s 35 coastal states, commonwealths and territories on legislative and policy issues relating to the sound management of coastal, Great Lakes, and ocean resources. Economically, socially, and geographically, the coastal states and territories are as diverse as their individual coastlines, yet their commitment to common objectives in coastal and ocean management is what shapes CSO’s unique character. (PR)