Representatives of several stakeholder groups in the Southeast have expressed interest in enhancing collaborations and communications to better understand ocean and coastal acidification (OA) drivers throughout this region, including, but not limited to:
Approaches to monitoring changing ocean chemistry
Evaluating the state-of-ocean and coastal acidification science including eutrophication and hypoxia in coastal areas
Identifying vulnerable species and ecosystems.
The Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA), in partnership with NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), is facilitating conversations among regional stakeholders to advance a Southeast Ocean and Coastal Acidification Network (SOCAN). Similar Ocean Acidification Networks are in existence in other regions and have proven to be successful mechanisms for catalyzing unique partnerships and leveraging assets in times of constrained budgetary resources.
SOCAN recently initiated a webinar series exploring how ocean acidification is or may affect marine resources in the Southeast.