The mission of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service is to safeguard the viability of key marine species within the US economic zone. That mission includes conserving sensitive marine habitat and restoring marine habitat that has been degraded by factors such as destructive fishing techniques and water pollution. It also includes monitoring and protecting threatened marine species such as sea turtles and whales. The National Marine Fisheries service includes IOOS data in their assessments of habitat and threatened marine species. Part of the value of integrating species and habitat data into the IOOS system is enabling the resolution of conflicts between human uses of our oceans and the protection of fragile marine habitats and the natural resources that they support. Activities such as mineral extraction and energy siting require the use of a suite of marine habitat and species data in order to ensure that operations comply with marine conservation laws designed to require managers and policy makers to consider the ecological impacts of human activities.
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