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Emergency Response Field Data Collection: Integrating Marine Debris and Shoreline Assessment Data Through a Common Data Standard

Nationwide; 2007

Background | Partners | Benefits of the Project | Figure | 1-pager

Background

There is a basic overlap between some types of marine debris data collection and the data gathered by Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams while responding to oil spills. By generating a common language or data standard we can improve data integration and general communication between these two communities. The goal of this project is to lay the groundwork for developing such a standard, primarily by gathering a large selection of stakeholders from both communities together for a workshop to discuss needs, benefits and to develop consensus on next steps.

The workshop was sponsored by NOAA Office of Response and Restoration's Emergency Response Division, NOAA Marine Debris Program, and the University of New Hampshire's Coastal Response Research Center and was held September 25-27, 2007.  The group of participants was diverse and included federal, state, not-for-profit, and corporate representatives from the response and marine debris communities. Representatives from Canada and from the technical, data management fields were also present.

Workshop Attendees:

  • Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
  • California Oil Spill Prevention and Response
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
  • Genwest Systems
  • Entrix
  • Environment Canada
  • Environmental Performance and Decision Support (EPDS)
  • New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
  • NOAA – Assessment and Restoration Division
  • NOAA – National Marine Sanctuaries
  • NOAA – Pacific Services Center
  • NOAA – Office of Coast Survey
  • Ocean Conservancy
  • Polaris Applied Sciences
  • Research Planning Inc.
  • Sheavly Consultants
  • Texas General Land Office
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
  • University of New Hampshire – Joint Hydrographic Center
  • University of New Hampshire – Research Computing Center
  • University of New Hampshire – Marine Debris Research
  • University of Wisconsin
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Coast Guard
  • Washington State (represented by WA Department of Fish and Wildlife)
  • Weston Solutions

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Partners

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Benefits of the Project

  • Increase data integration between response and marine debris

  • Improve data integration within the response community (broaden scope of project beyond SCAT to include other missions including NRDA, Monitoring, Wildlife, etc.)

  • Increase awareness of marine debris issues within the response community

  • Move toward a common data standard for field collected response data

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Figure

A data standard can provide a common language that allows different groups and data collection efforts to share information. It can be the rules of communication that help standardize the way data is collected and stored. Once critical commonalities exist then integration and the associated benefits are possible.
A data standard can provide a common language that allows different groups and data collection efforts to share information. It can be the rules of communication that help standardize the way data is collected and stored. Once critical commonalities exist then integration and the associated benefits are possible.

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1-pager

Download the 1-pager handout (pdf 857KB) on this project here.

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This program is funded through NOAA's Ocean Service, Office of Response & Restoration, Marine Debris Program.

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