January 5, 2021

The National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization Council (NOMEC Council), a group of Federal Government Agencies established to carry out the National Strategy for mapping, exploring, and characterizing the waters around the US coast, have launched their implementation plan.

The NOMEC Implementation Plan lays out a plan to bring together Agencies and non-governmental bodies to implement the mapping, exploration, and characterization of US ocean waters more efficiently and effectively. Their goal is to map and characterize all US coastal waters by 2030 (for deep waters) and by 2040 (for shallow waters). 

The plan will also allow for stakeholder to provide feedback about ocean exploration priorities and needs and for non-Federal entities to build partnerships. Throughout the execution of this Implementation Plan, agencies will also work together to identify and support opportunities for technological innovation. A final, and important, component is to inspire and train the next generation of ocean mappers and explorers to provide a “blue” workforce for the future.

NSF and its partners will support the NOMEC plan with the submersibles and vessels in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS.org), as well as helping to train a "blue" workforce of the future. NSF programs, such as the CLOSE-GAP & STEMSEAS, help underrepresented groups in ocean science to gain the “at sea” training and skills required to fulfill the ocean mapping and exploration goals of the NOMEC Strategy.

The NOMEC Implementation Plan can be found at: NOMEC Implementation Plan

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