As young women with a desire to protect our blue planet, we each joined NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries education team while living on different coastlines of the country. Now, we work as a team sharing the importance of protecting the ocean with members of the next generation. As National Ocean Month approaches, we’re joining forces to share ways that other young people across the country can take action to protect national marine sanctuaries and be a voice for the ocean.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Act allows NOAA to identify, designate, and protect areas of the ocean and Great Lakes environment with special national significance due to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, scientific, cultural, archaeological, educational, or aesthetic qualities as national marine sanctuaries.
Whether you live in a sanctuary community or care about a special place from afar, you can be part of this public process this National Ocean Month.
If you do visit a national marine sanctuary or marine national monument this year, be sure to capture your experience and share with us! From May 24, 2024 to September 2, 2024, the annualYou can take part in a community science project that will help scientists at NOAA collect essential information. Sometimes referred to as “citizen science,” community science is a type of crowdsourcing, in which community members collect data that researchers can then use to answer big questions.