Two recent studies raise new awareness on offshore marine wildlife and the economy of the Mid-Atlantic ocean,respectively. Mid-Atlantic Wildlife Studies: Distribution and Abundance of Wildlife along the Eastern Seaboard 2012-2014 was released in October 2015 as part of the Mid-Atlantic Baseline Studies (MABS) project (2012-2015) and provides new insight on offshore wildlife populations. Another report, released in February 2016 by the National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) features the latest data and analysis on the health of the ocean and coastal economies – including a regional look at the Mid-Atlantic.

The presentations made during the January 29th MARCO Forum on Ocean Assessment and Data Syntheses Products are now available online in video format.   The full presentations can be viewed here:   Laura McKay, Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), presents an overview of the regional ocean planning process in the Mid-Atlantic.     Presentation on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Assessment (ROA) made...

New Educational and Interactive Tool Highlights New York’s Diverse Land and Offshore Resources Provides Public Access, Transparency to Information Used in Planning Decisions   The New York Department of State launched an educational and user-friendly website that identifies New York’s diverse land and offshore assets so residents, local governments, educators, businesses and others can use this information when making planning and...

MARCO Chair Laura McKay is featured in a new film on regional ocean planning from Swell Productions and Surfrider Foundation. The Next Wave is the story of ocean planning in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic from the unique perspective of ocean recreational users.

When Captain Danny Burt of Ocean City, Maryland goes fishing, he catches more than fish, he also captures great footage. Captain Burt and his crew on the Pumpin Hard 66 charter boat often attach a GoPro video camera to their ballyhoo dredge to film what’s happening beneath the surface. The resulting footage is remarkable, providing an up close look at the behavior of tuna, sharks, marlin and sailfish off the Mid-Atlantic coast.

MARCO has developed a new feature of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal to help you navigate these challenges with the help of your community. The beta version of the Groups feature will be live later this month and MARCO is looking for a few pioneers to help us test it.