The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) recently announced that Steering Committee members have been confirmed for the organization’s new Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean (MACO). The 8-member Steering Committee is comprised of representatives from Virginia (Chair), New Jersey, New York, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, US Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, Shinnecock Indian Nation, and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
Pursuant to the MACO framework, the Steering Committee will operate by consensus and provide overall direction to further goals to advance regional ocean planning, identify collaboration opportunities and review the ongoing process for collaboration, identify and review goals and objectives, oversee development of work plans, plan for the annual Mid-Atlantic Ocean Forum, approve the establishment of work groups and compile and share work group-related information, ensure that stakeholder engagement principles are followed, and provide administrative support.
MACO has been established to foster collaboration among states, federal agencies, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and federally recognized tribes, and to engage stakeholders. MARCO is a regional ocean partnership established in 2009 by the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
