Legislation aimed at giving NOAA Cooperative Institutes a stronger focus on technology advancement is moving through Congress, in an effort by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to strengthen the maritime workforce and boost the blue economy.
The Bolstering Long-Term Understanding and Exploration of the Great Lakes, Oceans, Bays, and Estuaries Act, or the BLUE GLOBE Act, “will improve the health of our fisheries, strengthen the competitiveness of the industry’s workforce, protect against China’s illegal fishing, and diversify our blue economy,” said Murkowski, who sponsored the bill.
The BLUE GLOBE Act directs existing federal ocean-focused interagency committees to improve domestic and international coordination, enhance data management and accessibility, and accelerate ocean data and monitoring innovation by giving NOAA Cooperative Institutes a stronger focus on technology advancement. The bill creates a new ocean innovation prize, and tasks the National Academy of Sciences with assessing the need for an Advanced Research Project Agency–Oceans. The legislation also prioritizes use of innovative technology to better address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This measure follows successful work by the Oceans Caucus to support the passage of four international agreements aimed at combatting IUU fishing and the related legislation.
