WEST COAST ENTITIES SIGN AGREEMENT TO ADVANCE OCEAN AND
COASTAL HEALTH ISSUES
The West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health (WCGA) and the West Coast Coastal
and Ocean Observing Systems (OOS) signed a two-year agreement in October of 2012 to advance
effective management of coastal and ocean resources for the benefit of current and future
generations, with a specific focus on using ocean observing systems to help address harmful algal
blooms and ocean acidification as well as advancing surface current mapping and a regional data
framework.
“We have a strong interest in collaborating with each other in these areas, and leveraging
human and financial resources to benefit our shared ecosystem,” said Catherine Kuhlman, Deputy
Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Matters with the California Natural Resources Agency and
California’s state lead representative on the WCGA.
The WCGA is a state and federal partnership with the goal of protecting and managing the
ocean and coastal resources along the entire West Coast, as called for in the recommendation of the
US Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission. The Alliance seeks to promote
clean coastal waters and beaches, healthy ocean and coastal habitats, effective ecosystem-based
management, reduced impacts of offshore development, increased ocean awareness and literacy
among the region’s citizens, sustainable economic development of coastal communities, and
expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research, and monitoring.
The West Coast Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (OOS) are comprised of the
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), the Central and
Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), and the Southern California Coastal
Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS). The OOS are the regional information coordination entities
for the West Coast as part of the United States Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System
(IOOS), and they share responsibility for observing the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem.
Through collaborations between academic institutions, state and federal agencies, tribal and local
governments, private industry, and non-profit organizations, the OOS provide key ocean
observations, data, models, and information products to a broad range of users on the West
Coast. This information is used routinely for navigation, search and rescue, oil spill preparedness
and response, beach closures for public safety, scientific analysis of climate and ecosystem changes
and processes, and by the general public for their safety and recreation.
"This MOU allows us to build on existing structures of governmental and scientific
cooperation to ensure that ocean users, managers and researchers on the West Coast have access to
the most timely and relevant ocean observation-based information," said Dr. Jan Newton, Executive
Director of NANOOS and Principal Oceanographer at the Applied Physics Laboratory of the
University of Washington.
Key steps the two regional organizations will take to achieve tangible results during the next
two years include identifying regional coastal and ocean management priorities, share information
among the two entities and with others in the region, jointly support projects of shared interest, and
document progress in achieving mutual goals. Click here to read the full MOU.
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For more information about the West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health or to subscribe
to the WCGA Update, please visit our website at westcoastoceans.org.
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