Data

Northeast Ocean Data provides a wide range of data on human and natural dimensions of the sea.

Downloadable datasets | External data sources | Listing of policies and standards

Prioritizing Data for Regional Ocean Planning

To ensure that the most important types of data are available, the Working Group focuses on addressing the data priorities of the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC). Data are designated as high, medium, or low priority based on their value for NROC’s efforts, including stakeholder engagement. Priorities are refined continually through ongoing communication between NROC and the Working Group. The Working Group dedicates most of its effort to obtaining, adding, and maintaining datasets that have been identified as high priority. Medium- and low-priority datasets are added on an opportunistic basis when they are readily available and easily processed. Incorporating and maintaining each dataset requires an investment of time, effort, and funding. These investments can be substantial, depending on the complexity of the dataset and the amount of processing required.

High-Priority Data Types

The Northeast Ocean Data Working Group maintains and updates the existing datasets, and it adds new datasets in response to the priorities of the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC). These data types have been identified as high priorities based on NROC’s ocean planning activities. Please contact us to provide feedback on these priorities and to tell us about other datasets that may be useful additions.