Governors Alliance Launches Ocean Data Portal

In January, the West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health launched the West Coast Ocean Data Portal to better deal with the multiple threats to ocean and coastal health.

By combining many sources of data and providing tools to map spatial information, it aims to ensure that issues of regional importance are informed by the best available science and technology. The Portal is designed to help ocean and coastal managers, researchers, the general public, and others to improve ocean health, promote coastal economies, prepare communities to adapt to OA and rising seas, and help seafood-dependent individuals and businesses survive. Seafood industry and agency personnel, researchers, and others with relevant data are urged to contribute and help build the Portal into a robust resource. In addition, the Governors Alliance has identified OA as one of its priority concerns and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the West Coast Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems, bolstering efforts to collaborate on data collection and dissemination.