[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7734-7735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02626]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID-0648-XV175]


Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the U.S. 
Exclusive Economic Zone

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ACTION: Notice; request for information.

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SUMMARY: On behalf of the Ocean Policy Committee, Ocean Science and 
Technology Subcommittee and the Office of Science and Technology Policy 
(OSTP) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as Co-Chairs of 
the Ocean Policy Committee, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) requests input from all interested parties on the 
development of a National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and 
Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ). 
Through this Request for Information (RFI), the Ocean Policy Committee 
seeks input from the public on ways to map, explore, and characterize 
the U.S. EEZ; that is, to reveal the terrain of the ocean floor and 
identify areas of particular interest, and to identify and evaluate 
natural and cultural resources within these areas. The public input 
provided in response to this RFI will inform the Ocean Policy Committee 
as it works with Federal agencies and other stakeholders to develop the 
strategy.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
March 12, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Responses should be submitted via email to 
[email protected]. Include ``RFI Response: National Strategy 
for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the U.S. EEZ'' in the 
subject line of the message.
    Instructions: Response to this RFI is voluntary. Respondents need 
not reply to all questions listed. For all submissions, clearly 
indicate which questions are being answered. Email attachments will be 
accepted in plain text, Microsoft Word, or Adobe PDF formats only. Each 
individual or institution is requested to submit only one response. 
OSTP may post responses to this RFI, without change, on a Federal 
website. NOAA, therefore, requests that no business proprietary 
information, copyrighted information, or personally identifiable 
information be submitted in response to this RFI. Please note that the 
U.S. Government will not pay for response preparation, or for the use 
of any information contained in the response.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kris Dellapina, OSTP, 202 456-6038.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Presidential Memorandum, Ocean Mapping of 
the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and 
Nearshore of Alaska, 84 FR 64699 (Nov. 19, 2019), directs the Director 
of the OSTP and the Chairman of the CEQ, in their capacity as Co-Chairs 
of the Ocean Policy Committee, to coordinate the development of a 
national strategy for mapping, exploring, and characterizing the U.S. 
EEZ. Pursuant to this requirement, the Ocean Policy Committee, through 
its Ocean Science and Technology Subcommittee and in coordination with 
the Administrator of NOAA, seeks to develop a proposed strategy 
(``Strategy'') to map the U.S. EEZ, identify priority areas within the 
U.S. EEZ, and explore and characterize the priority areas. The Ocean 
Policy Committee has commenced development of the Strategy and is 
soliciting public input through this RFI to obtain information from a 
wide range of stakeholders, including academia, private industry, and 
other relevant organizations and institutions. The public input 
provided in response to this RFI will inform the Ocean Policy Committee 
as it continues to develop the Strategy.

Questions To Inform Development of the Strategy

    Through this RFI, the Ocean Policy Committee seeks responses to the 
following questions to inform development of a national strategy for 
ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization.

[[Page 7735]]

    1. Given the tools, platforms, and technologies of which you are 
aware, what is the most effective approach for mapping the remaining 
unmapped portions of the U.S. EEZ? How should areas be prioritized for 
mapping?
    2. What innovative tools, platforms, and technologies could advance 
our capability to map, explore, and characterize the U.S. EEZ more 
efficiently and effectively? To the extent innovative capabilities 
already exist, but are not being effectively used, what are the 
barriers to adopting them? How can these barriers be overcome?
    3. Given the tools, platforms, and technologies of which you are 
aware, what is the most effective approach for exploring and 
characterizing priority areas of the U.S. EEZ?
    4. What selection criteria should inform the determination of 
priority areas of the U.S. EEZ for exploration and characterization?
    5. How can public-private partnerships be utilized to effectively 
implement the Strategy?
    6. Which Federal programs are best positioned to support public-
private partnerships to advance ocean exploration, mapping, and 
characterization? What changes are needed, if any, to these programs to 
improve their effectiveness?
    7. How should the data generated by the Strategy be managed so that 
it is most useful to public and private sectors?
    8. Is there any additional information related to mapping, 
exploring, and characterizing the U.S. EEZ, not requested above, that 
you believe the Ocean Policy Committee should consider?

    Dated: February 3, 2020.
Timothy C. Gallaudet,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Deputy NOAA 
Administrator, Department of Commerce.
[FR Doc. 2020-02626 Filed 2-10-20; 8:45 am]
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