Vineyard residents with an interest in how the waters which surround the Island are used will get their chance to shape state regulation under a major new piece of legislation, at a public meeting this Tuesday.

The Oceans Act, signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick in May of this year, is billed as the first attempt anywhere in the country to establish a comprehensive plan to manage development in state waters and balance competing uses, such as fishing, navigation, conservation and alternative energy generation.

However, it remains for now a hollow piece of legislation. A series of meetings, including what is being billed as a listening session on Tuesday, will begin the process of filling in the regulatory void.

“Right now we’re having these listening sessions all around the commonwealth and taking people’s comments on board about what they would like to see in the plan,” said Jo-Ann Taylor, who is the coastal planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and one of 17 advisory commissioners appointed by the governor to flesh out the details.

The advisory commission has until next February to come up with a draft ocean management plan, with a final plan to be completed by the end of 2009.

Ms. Taylor said it is important that those with an interest in the legislation — including fishermen, boaters, conservationists and other stakeholders — turn up for the session, which begins at 7 p.m. at the MVC offices in the Olde Stone Building on New York avenue in Oak Bluffs.

“Yes, there will be public hearings held after the draft report is done,” she said, “but by then I can’t imagine there will be anything major to change on the basis of those comments.

“So it will be much better for people to state their positions now.”

The Oceans Act is an attempt to avoid the sorts of ugly and time-consuming regulatory and legal conflicts that have accompanied the Cape Wind proposal, for example, by establishing in advance those areas in which certain activities can take place, and under what restrictions.

“I’ve done planning and regulation at the commission for 17 years and I can tell you the most horrendous regulatory reviews are the ones where the criteria for review are unclear and people don’t know what’s expected of them,” Ms. Taylor said.

“Clear criteria just make the process less bloody and more civilized.”

And, hopefully, speedier.

“We will be . . . mapping out more or less appropriate areas for various activities, so somebody who wants to put in some equivalent of a Cape Wind or something will be able to look at the plan first and know where they can put it and where they can’t,” she said.

The process will be informed by comment from a science advisory council, with the intent that decisions be based on scientific data rather than simple competing interests.

Ms. Taylor acknowledged, though, the difficulties of conducting a consultation process effectively from first principles. Apart from the text of the act itself, the state had provided little information, online or elsewhere, for people to consider ahead of the round of meetings.

“I know it’s difficult for people to comment when they don’t have anything to react to,” she said.

However, those who attend on Tuesday night will at least hear a presentation from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.