The Ocean and Waterways Conference, March 8, 2019 in Houston

The World Ocean Council (WOC) is working with WOC Member Kelley Drye to deliver the Ocean and Waterways Conference on March 8, 2019 in Houston. The event expands upon the ongoing Kelley Drye efforts to engage the business community in understanding and proactively addressing ocean and waterway risks, challenges and opportunities.

This half-day program will present a series of panels featuring law and policy experts from port authorities and maritime industries, private sector ocean users, governments, NGOs, and academia. Panels will discuss the most pertinent federal and state legal, regulatory and political developments impacting our ocean, waterways, and their uses.

The WOC is co-organizing the following panels…

Climate Adaptation and Extreme Weather Events - An expert panel on the impacts of hurricanes on ports and coastal areas, the need to ensure that infrastructure is adapted, ready and resilient to handle extreme weather events, and the legal context, such as Climate Change Litigation and the Sand Act. This panel feeds into the WOC development of an international ocean business community action platform on Port and Coastal Infrastructure Adaptation and Resiliency.

Intersecting Marine Uses: Finding Synergies, Reducing Conflicts - Addressing the intersections between existing offshore economic activities, including offshore oil and gas, renewables, fisheries, aquaculture, dredging, restoration, marine transport, and defense, and the laws and regulations regarding marine intersecting use issues. Panelists will focus on opportunities for synergies, how to make them happen, the challenges of incompatible uses and how to avoid conflicts. This panel builds on and continues the WOC efforts on Marine Spatial Planning and the development of inter-industry dialogue to reduce conflicts and optimize synergies.

The full set of 2019 Ocean and Waterways Conference sessions includes:

• Keynote Panel: Coastal risk reduction strategies, flooding, resiliency, and redevelopment issues
• Water and Environmental Issues
• Waterways and Navigation
• Climate Adaptation and Extreme Weather Events
• Intersecting Marine Uses: Finding Synergies, Reducing Conflicts

There is no cost to register for this event. For more information and to register, click here.

Lunch will be served, and for a cocktail reception immediately following the program.
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit is available for this program.