Public Service Recognition Week

Video Transcript

Hello everyone! I’m Nicole LeBoeuf, Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service, or NOS. This week, we celebrate Public Service Recognition Week, which honors the contributions of federal, state, county, and local government employees throughout the United States. And I could not be more proud of the team here at NOS. NOS is made up of a diverse, dedicated, and talented group of professionals that cover a wide range of occupations. Scientists, communicators, contract specialists, grant managers, attorneys, administrative professionals…just to name a few of the experts that help carry out the NOS mission.

It’s no easy task to concisely and accurately say what we do here at NOS because we do a lot. But I want to mention some of the major initiatives that we lead. The work that we do helps to prepare coastal communities to be more resilient in the face of environmental stressors and natural disasters. We ensure safe and efficient transportation and commerce through our navigation and water level products and services. Doing so allows ships to move $1.5 trillion worth of goods in and out of U.S. ports every year. Through our National Estuarine Research Reserves and our National Marine Sanctuaries, we foster environmental stewardship, recreation, and tourism opportunities throughout the nation. We develop groundbreaking mapping strategies, innovative and ambitious coral reef conservation plans improvements to cutting-edge spatial data tools to support disaster response recovery and we lead monitoring, charting, and data collection projects.

In a Town Hall for NOAA employees led by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, she emphasized NOAA’s role in the administration’s economic recovery plan for working families. She mentioned the job opportunities that the Blue Economy offers for all Americans. Through tourism and recreation, commercial fishing and aquaculture, research and education, construction, technical services, and more, NOS plays a key role in creating jobs for Americans. In fact, it’s nearly impossible for most Americans to go a single day without eating, wearing, or using products that come through or from our coastal communities. Americans depend on NOS’s services for our very way of life and I could not be more proud of, and thankful for, the work that we do. And what we do depends on you. I am humbled to lead such an incredible organization and group of people so please know that I see you and I appreciate you during Public Service Recognition Week and every day. Thank you all for your service.