<div dir="ltr"><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Happy Holidays! The
West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health thanks the participants
of the West Coast Ocean Data Network meeting last month in Costa
Mesa, CA.</font></font></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">The
meeting brought together over 75 ocean and coastal data managers and
data users from state and federal agencies, tribal governments,
research universities, and NGOs to discuss strategies for better data
sharing on the West Coast including:</font></font></p>
<ul>
<li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Providing
feedback on the West Coast Ocean Data Portal, a website that </font><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">will
link existing data catalogs together and provide an easy to use
gateway to discover ocean and coastal data. </font></font></font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Expressing
need for communication and visualization tools to help the Network
inform ocean issues like tracking marine debris, adapting to sea
level rise, monitoring ocean acidification, and marine planning. </font></font></font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font color="#000000">Highlighting
the need for 'data diplomats' at partner organizations to provide
points of contact for data resources and technical capacity across
the West Coast.</font></font></font></p></li></ul>
<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Followup
from the meeting will include:</font></font></p>
<ul>
<li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Incorporating
Network feedback into the design and function of the Portal.</font></font></p>
</li><li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Formalization
of the Network through a “Statement of Support”. </font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">Development
of data visualization and Network communication tools.</font></font></p>
</li><li><p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in">
<font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">A
formal meeting proceedings document with presentations will be
available shortly.</font></font></p></li></ul>
<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><a href="http://www.westcoastoceans.org/media/Data_Network_ACT/StatementofSupport_WestCoastOceanDataNetwork_121913_form.pdf" target="_blank"><font color="#000000"><span style="text-decoration:none"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">You
can access the West Coast Ocean Data Network Statement of Support
here. </font></span></font></a></span></font></font></font> </p>
<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif">The
West Coast Ocean Data Portal is a project of the <a href="http://westcoastoceans.org/" target="_blank">West
Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health</a> to </font></font><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>increase
discovery and connectivity of ocean and coastal data and people to
better inform resource management, policy development, and marine
planning. It is generously funded through a NOAA Regional Ocean
Partnership grant.</font></font></font></font></font></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom:0in"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>You
can learn more at </font></font></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><a href="http://westcoastoceans.org/WCODP" target="_blank"><font color="#000000"><span style="text-decoration:none"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>http://westcoastoceans.org/WCODP</font></font></span></font></a></span></font><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>
or contact Todd Hallenbeck (</font></font></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><a href="mailto:todd.r.hallenbeck@westcoastoceans.org" target="_blank"><font color="#000000"><span style="text-decoration:none"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>todd.r.hallenbeck@westcoastoceans.org</font></font></span></font></a></span></font><font color="#000000"><font face="Open Sans Light, sans-serif"><font>).</font></font></font></font></font></p>
<div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;font-family:Tahoma"><a name="1431122cd5d31db2_SafeHtmlFilter__MailAutoSig"><b>Todd R. Hallenbeck</b></a> | Program Coordinator</p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;font-family:Tahoma">West Coast Ocean Data Portal</p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;font-family:Tahoma">West Coast Governors Alliance</p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;font-family:Tahoma">Cell: <a href="tel:%28408%29%20482-6807" value="+14084826807" target="_blank">(408) 482-6807</a> </p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;font-family:Tahoma"><font color="#0000ff"><a href="mailto:todd.r.hallenbeck@gmail.com" target="_blank">todd.r.hallenbeck@westcoastoceans.</a>org</font> | <a href="https://webmail.lcd.state.or.us/ecp/Customize/www.westcoastoceans.org/RDF" target="_blank"><font>www.</font>westcoastoceans.org/RDF</a></p>
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