Press Releases

CONTACT:
Krista Trono
(912) 598-2381
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council will hold a public advisory council meeting Nov. 2, 2006 at the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary office in Newport News, Va. The meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m., followed by a public comment period at 11:55 a.m. Council members will meet from areas around the country via conference call. The public is asked to meet at the Newport News office if they are interested in attending the meeting. The sanctuary is managed by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Sanctuary advisory councils have proven to be an invaluable source of advice and input by members of the community regarding the management of our national marine sanctuaries, America’s ocean treasures,” said David Alberg, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary superintendent.

The Advisory Council consists of 12 members, including four government seats representing the U.S. Navy, National Park Service, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, and Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The council also has eight non-government seats representing sanctuary constituent groups including recreational diving, archaeological research, conservation, heritage tourism, maritime museums, the Mariners’ Museum, education, and the general public.

Specifically, the council's role is to provide advice on

• protecting cultural resources, and identifying and evaluating emergent or critical issues involving sanctuary use or resources;

• identifying and realizing the sanctuary's research objectives;

• identifying and realizing educational opportunities to increase the public knowledge and stewardship of the sanctuary environment; and

• assisting to develop an informed constituency to increase awareness and understanding of the purpose and value of the sanctuary.

For further information please contact:
Krista Trono, communications coordinator
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
100 Museum Drive
Newport News, VA 23606
(e-mail: Krista.Trono@noaa.gov; phone (757) 591-7328)

Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was designated in 1975 to protect the wreck of the famed Civil War ironclad, USS Monitor, which sank during a storm 16 miles off Hatteras, N.C. in 1862. The sanctuary is managed by NOAA.

The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness of America’s marine resources and maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument that together encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America’s ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources.

In 2007 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

On the Internet:
NOAA
NOAA's National Ocean Service
National Marine Sanctuary Program
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary