JUNE 5, 2015--On Wednesday June 3, 2015, OR&R was invited to participate in the a meeting in Tacoma, Washington, of the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Departments of Commerce and the Interior on issues related to marine protected areas (MPAs).

The committee works to strengthen and expand the nation’s system of marine protected areas. One of the issues before the Committee is the potential role of MPAs as conservation tools in a changing Arctic landscape.

Doug Helton presented on OR&R roles, and the growing threats facing the Arctic from increased oil exploration, shipping, and mining. He also spoke about recent decisions to exclude Bristol Bay and portions of the Chukchi Sea from further oil leasing. The potential role of Arctic ERMA as a tool to visualize multiple environmental and other data sets was also discussed.

For more information, contact Doug.Helton@noaa.gov.

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