National Ocean Service

For more information, please visit: 

www.noaa.gov and www.oceanservice.noaa.gov

Positioning America for the Future

•Coastal watershed counties were home to 163.8 million

people in 2010, approximately 52 percent of the United

States population. This number is expected to increase by

more than 15 million by 2020. Through the National Ocean

Service (NOS), NOAA is the lead federal agency responsible

for promoting sustainable, safe, and efficient use of our

nation’s coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes resources. NOS’s

science-based products and services are positioning

America’s coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems

for the future of economic growth and environmental

change.

NOS has identified three priorities that reflect its statutory

mandates and missions:

Place-based Conservation 

NOS works to conserve marine areas and preserve economic

benefits of special places through its coastal management

and place-based conservation programs. NOS provides

leadership for state and local coastal management efforts

across the nation and is the primary conduit for data and

services at NOAA to support informed coastal decision

making. NOAA’s national marine sanctuaries are America’s

primary instrument for place-based conservation of special

marine places in offshore areas.

Coastal Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and 

Resiliency 

In light of increasing threats to our coasts, NOAA’s

preparedness, response, recovery, and resiliency activities

have become a national priority. From oil spills and vessel

groundings to hurricanes and marine debris, NOS provides

world-class science and services in support of healthy

coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems.

Coastal Intelligence 

Whether it is the Nation’s nautical charts, environmental

monitoring, or socioeconomic tools, NOS and its partners

integrate science and services to provide actionable

intelligence. Knowledgeable decision makers, both public

and private, are able to make informed choices on their use

and stewardship of coastal resources.

Updating buoy sensors in Ft. Myers, Florida 

Credit: University of South Florida

The Point Arena Lighthouse, California 

Credit: NOAA Satellite image of the August 2014 harmful algal bloom in 

Lake Erie. Credit: NOAA
NATIONAL OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

For more information, please visit: http://www.noaa.gov/budget

FY 2016 Budget Request Highlights

The FY 2016 President’s Budget request for NOAA’s National Ocean Service is $573,960,000. NOS is 

positioning America for a future of higher intensity coastal storms, increased demands on the marine 

transportation system, changing sea levels leading to coastal flooding, and heightened offshore and coastal 

development. In FY 2016 NOS is proposing critical new investments in resilience of the Nation’s coastal 

communities to extreme weather events, coastal inundation, climate hazards, and changing ocean conditions. 

Highlights include:

• Regional Coastal Resilience Grants (+ $45.0M). NOAA will significantly expand the Regional Coastal 

Resilience Grant Program to more fully address a suite of resilience challenges facing all U.S. coastal 

regions—including community, ecosystem, and economic resilience—within a single, competitive grants 

program.

• Ecosystem-Based Solutions for Coastal Resilience (+$5.0M). The NOS component of this integrated 

initiative (with the National Marine Fisheries Service) will help coastal planners integrate ecosystem-based 

solutions into hazard mitigation, resilient coastal development, and post-disaster rebuilding.

• Capacity to Respond to Extreme Events (+ $4.8M). In response to increasing frequency and intensity of 

coastal inundation events, NOAA will apply a wealth of data and information to improving coastal 

communities’ decisions on preparing for, responding to and recovering more quickly from these events.

• AmeriCorps Community Resilience Initiative Training (+$2.0M). NOAA will develop and administer a 

training program for a new AmeriCorps unit to support communities and tribes on vulnerability 

assessments, resilience program implementation, and coordination with federal resilience efforts.

• Coastal Ecosystem Research and Development (+ $4.0M). NCCOS will expand its competitive grant 

program to fund extramural research and applied science that address coastal ocean issues including 

harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and coastal ecosystem assessment.

In addition to these increases, the FY 2016 Budget request maintains robust support for NOS’s partnershipbased approaches to generating coastal intelligence, improving the resilience of coastal and great lakes 

communities and economies, and employing place-based approaches to resource conservation.