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NOAA Participates in U.S. Coast Guard Response Roadshow
JUNE 20, 2023 — The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration participated in a three-day Response Roadshow hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team in Fort Dix, New Jersey on June 6-8, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to build relationships as a response community to better understand how federal, state, and local governments, as well as private industry work together to prevent, mitigate, and respond to human-made and natural disasters.
About 60 individuals representing various federal and state agencies as well as private organizations participated in the event, including OR&R’s Marine Debris Program and Emergency Response Division. Throughout the meeting, presenters highlighted policy and regulations associated with emergency response, advances in response equipment and technology, planning considerations, and previous case studies to build on lessons learned. Conversations were primarily focused on pollution response, with heavy emphasis on abandoned and derelict vessels.
On day three of the event, the Marine Debris Program gave a presentation on their response history and capabilities, with specific focus on the publication of Emergency Response Guides, which help coastal states improve preparedness for the response to and recovery from acute marine debris incidents. The presentation also highlighted the Program’s work on abandoned and derelict vessel response, a debris type of significant interest to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Response Roadshow reinforced the importance of inter-agency collaboration and pre-planning in order to respond more effectively to pollution and other threats.