Objectives

This project aims to:

• Identify critical contacts in academia, state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry and other stakeholders who have developed research agendas/plans, as well as those who have articulated relevant research needs, and compile an inclusive database based on these plans/needs assessments;
• Analyze information resources from the national, regional, and state-levels and identify articulated research needs for the ocean and coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic region;
• Synthesize sets of preliminary research needs for each thematic area;
• Undertake a multi-stakeholder consultation process, which includes the convening of one or more workshops and a public review and comment period, to elicit stakeholder input on the preliminary research needs;
• Revise and re-frame the regional research needs, as necessary, based on stakeholder input;
• Develop a Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Research Plan based on review of needs assessments, workshop inputs, and ongoing dialogue with stakeholders;
• Develop support for implementation of the Research Plan.