President’s Corner
I had the pleasure of attending the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (MACOORA) meeting this week in Portsmouth, Virginia and presenting a keynote presentation updating the National Ocean Policy and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process for the participants.
I was very impressed with the turnout of approximately 150 registrants and the significant industry representation. MACOORA has been one of the very active regional coastal observing associations under the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), thus during the question and answer and breakout periods there was a lot of discussion of the regional associations role as the MSP framework moves forward. These coastal observatories can play a key role in determining the success of the MSP process as it moves forward by indicating where changes need to be made in the planning process due to the dynamic and changing nature of our coastal waters. There was also discussion of how MACOORA could partner with the efforts that are just beginning in the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) to construct the major off-shore Pioneer array.
As the day proceeded, it became clear that there are several potential synergies between OOI and the coastal regional observatory associations and these opportunities will continue to present themselves as the OOI construction proceeds over the coming years. It is certainly an exciting time for this area of ocean sciences.
I wish all of you a pleasant, restful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.
Bob
