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Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
The Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a Dear Tribal Leader Letter announcing that it is accepting requests for Tribal consultation on its proposed guidance for designation of new regional ocean partnerships. Regional ocean partnerships are regional organizations voluntarily convened by coastal states and Tribal Nations, and designated by NOAA, to coordinate the management of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources among the members of the partnership.
The proposed guidance for the designation of new regional ocean partnerships follows Title CII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263)(NDAA). Congress recently specified how new regional ocean partnerships must be organized and the elements that must be included in applications for new partnerships. The NDAA includes criteria for NOAA to apply when considering new regional ocean partnerships and requires that new partnerships must be designated by NOAA before the partnership may receive funding or otherwise be considered a regional ocean partnership. There are four existing regional ocean partnerships: the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, and the West Coast Ocean Alliance. The proposed guidance for new regional ocean partnerships does not apply to these existing ones.
To view the draft guidance, please view the Dear Tribal Leader Letter. As part of this process, NOAA has shared a draft version of the proposed guidance and is inviting formal, government-to-government consultation requests from Tribal Nations. Tribal Nations that would like to request a formal, government-to-government consultation with NOAA should notify Betsy Nicholson at rop.iija@noaa.gov by July 26, 2024. However, if this deadline is not possible, NOAA staff will work with Tribal Nations to find a date, time, and location (or virtual meeting) to accommodate Tribal Leadership. In addition to formal government-to-government consultation, you can request an informal, virtual meeting with NOAA to learn more about regional ocean partnerships by contacting Betsy Nicholson at rop.iija@noaa.gov, or by phone at (617) 894-0197, if interested in a virtual meeting.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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