The Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) recently formed a Monitoring Community of Practice (MCoP) whose purpose is to provide a forum for sharing and coordinating monitoring and mapping knowledge with the larger restoration community. Staff from NCCOS, USGS, RESTORE Council and the Gulf of Mexico Alliance held a workshop, with 100 participants, on June 11 in St. Petersburg, FL. The workshop developed objectives, long-term vision, identified participants, and reviewed objectives and communication strategy with the RESTORE Council’s Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP), which is administered by NCCOS and USGS. The MCoP will coordinate with water quality and habitat monitoring and mapping experts to support CMAP and will identify regional information needs and gaps, monitoring parameter guidelines, data sharing and management, and outcomes of Gulf restoration to ensure best available science is used for project planning and implementation. The MCoP will support CMAP by providing an important linkage to monitoring practitioners from local, state, federal agencies, universities, NGOs, business and industry to provide lessons learned and best practices.
For more information contact randy.clark@noaa.gov.