NOS Management and Budget

PSEP Educators Engage Thousands in Conservation, Stewardship

SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITIES: STEWARDSHIP, RECREATION, AND TOURISM • PREPAREDNESS AND RISK REDUCTION

In Fiscal Year 2019, the NOAA Planet Stewards Education Project (PSEP) made significant contributions to the protection and conservation of natural resources, supporting NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship. PSEP educators worked with students, families, and the public in 19 states, St. Croix, and Kaiserslautern, Germany (as part of a partnership with a Department of Defense-led school) to address local environmental issues including, but not limited to, marine debris, sustainable waste management/reduction and recycling, rainwater harvesting, and invasive species removal. 3,700 K-12 and 215 post-graduate students, 248 educators, and 210 parents and partners spent over 5,000 hours learning about the science related to these projects, and over 25,000 hours engaging in hands-on stewardship activities. Participants removed over 3,100 pounds of marine debris from beaches, turned hundreds of pounds of food waste into usable compost, prevented the use of over 14,750 single use bottles, and removed more than 500 pounds of invasive plants from native habitats.

NOS Social Media Audiences Continue to Grow in FY 2019

SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITIES: STEWARDSHIP, RECREATION, AND TOURISM • PREPAREDNESS AND RISK REDUCTION • SAFE AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE

In Fiscal Year 2019, NOS Instagram followers increased 31 percent (from 70,939 to 93,258 followers). The number of Facebook page “likes” grew three percent (from 113,659 to 117,497), the number of Twitter followers grew four percent (from 176,804 to 183,518), and lifetime video views on the NOS YouTube Channel grew by 33 percent. This year marked the seventh 30 Days of the Ocean campaign, held in June, to celebrate World Ocean Day and National Ocean Month. Popular content included NOS’s World Ocean Day video (reach potential of > 456,000 views on Twitter), World Hydrography Day post (more than 41,000 views, 946 likes, and 188 shares on Facebook), and a video post about how sea turtles hatch (more than 44,000 views on Facebook and 119 retweets on NOS Twitter).

NOS Corporate Website Attracts 6.1% More Users Than Previous FY

SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITIES: STEWARDSHIP, RECREATION, AND TOURISM • PREPAREDNESS AND RISK REDUCTION • SAFE AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE

Traffic to the NOS website increased 6.1% in Fiscal Year 2019 compared to the previous fiscal year, despite the extended federal government shutdown. Google searches accounted for 386 million impressions in FY 19. This means that 386 million people were presented with NOS page results based on the search terms they used. Of that 386 million, 9 million people clicked on a link to get to the NOS website. The NOS website average ranking on Google search pages is 8.4, which means that NOS pages are overwhelmingly presented near the top on the first page of Google results when people search for ocean- or coastal-related terms or phrases. This applies not only to the U.S., but for the entire English-speaking world.