NOAA Ocean Council

The NOAA Ocean Council serves as the principal advisory body to the Administrator and focal point for the agency’s ocean activities and interests. Ocean activities include open ocean, nearshore, coastal and estuarine, and the Great Lakes. The purposes of the Council are defined in its Terms of Reference and include, coordinating ocean activities across NOAA; proposing priorities and investment strategies for ocean-related initiatives; identifying ocean and coastal programs that might benefit most from integration; and coordinating NOAA’s participation in the interagency National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).

Vice Admiral Lautenbacher and the NOAA Executive Council also have authorized the NOAA Ocean Council to develop a strategy and serve as the agency focal point for responding to and implementing the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.