In the months of April and May, the NOPP Office provided support to the Interagency Working Group on Facilities and Infrastructure (IWG-FI) and to the NOPP Committee. The IWG-FI recently published an update to the 2013 Federal Oceanographic Fleet Status Report entitled Federal Fleet Status Report: Current Capacity and Near Time Priorities. The NOPP Committee continues to work on developing partnership opportunities and assisting fledgling NOPP projects with organization and outreach. The NOPP Office also facilitated a meeting for the Biodiversity Ad Hoc Group, a sub-group of the NOPP.
The NOPP Office supported an All-Hands Meeting of the U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), a NOPP project since 2014. Demonstration projects are fully underway in the Arctic Chukchi Sea, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the Santa Barbara Channel. Learn more about the projects at MarineBON.org.
The NOPP Office supported the Ocean Research Advisory Panel (ORAP) as they held their first public meeting since December 2013. In the coming year, ORAP, a Federal Advisory Committee, will provide independent scientific advice and recommendations to the National Ocean Council on a number of research topics.
Finally, the NOPP Office attended:
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) Workshop on Submarine Canyons Science and Management
- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Standing Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment meeting at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- The Advances in Earth Science Briefing Series on Offshore Energy
- Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Hearing on Marine Debris and Wildlife: Impacts, Sources, and Solutions
- House Committee on Natural Resources Oversight Hearing on The Implications of President Obama’s National Ocean Policy
- Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources Hearing on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 2017-2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program
- Senate Committee on Appropriations Markup of the FY2017 Defense Appropriations Bill
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation Hearing on Improvements in Hurricane Forecasting and the Path Forward
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