A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, URGING THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE TO RECONSIDER ITS DECISION AND KEEP THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION ("NOAA") MARINE PROTECTED AREA ("MPA") FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE INTO FISCAL YEAR 2020, AND TO SUPPORT ITS WORK TO STRENGTHEN THE NATION'S MPA SYSTEM, FOR THE BENEFIT OF CURRENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.

The Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission accept the attached resolution.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee was created over 16 years ago and has provided the Department of Commerce, the Department of Interior, and marine stakeholders, with balanced, science-based advice on managing the nation’s system of marine protected areas. On September 30, 2019, the Unites States Department of Commerce decided to eliminate the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee. This Committee has been reauthorized every two years by successive administrations, including this one, just two years ago.

The Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee provides unique and irreplaceable stakeholder perspectives informing federal, state, tribal and local Marine Protected Areas, in every region of the United States. Its members are appointed every year by the United States Department of Commerce and represent wide-ranging ocean interests including commercial and recreational fishing, ocean recreation and tourism, offshore energy research and conservation, tribal and indigenous values, and more. Its members have dedicated countless volunteer hours to enhancing the effective management and protection of our nation’s marine resources.

Since 2003, the Committee’s knowledgeable stakeholders and technical experts have collaboratively and objectively deliberated over some of the most complex science and policy challenges facing today’s oceans. Furthermore, the Committee has provided balanced and actionable recommendations to the Department of Commerce and the Department of Interior on timely Marine Protected Areas topics including: sustainable financing; engaging diverse constituencies; designing effective marine sites and networks; applying science-based adaptive management in the face of a changing ocean; and sustaining the many economic, ecological and cultural benefits of Marine Protected Areas to the nation.

This proven, trusted and unique stakeholder forum cannot be replicated easily, nor can it be arbitrarily silenced without placing the nation’s most treasured ocean ecosystems, and the economies they support, in jeopardy. Therefore, we urge the Department of Commerce to reconsider their decision and keep the Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee for the fiscal year 2020 and to support the Committee’s work to strengthen the nation’s Marine Protected Areas for the benefit of current and future generations.

The Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission accept the attached resolution.