Congresswoman Jenniffer González Colón, NOAA Announce Initiative to Address Data Gaps in the U.S. Territories and Boost the Marine Economy

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hosted a roundtable discussion on the agency's recent expansion of theEconomics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) database to include the U.S. territories.

NOAA's ENOW database describes six economic sectors in the United States that depend on the oceans and Great Lakes. ENOW provides the number of businesses, employees, total wages earned, and gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for each economic sector. It has long been recognized as a crucial resource for understanding the economic significance of ocean and Great Lakes-dependent industries for both the national economy and the local economies of 30 coastal states. Thanks to congressional directives and funding provided in Fiscal Year 2021, NOAA has now expanded the database to include Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. This development will provide valuable insights into the marine economy of the U.S. territories and enhance their ability to address critical challenges.

"The expansion of NOAA's ENOW dataset to include Puerto Rico and the rest of the U.S. territories for the first time is an important milestone that will help address data gaps. We will now have a better understanding of the extent to which our local economies-businesses, employment, wages, and GDP numbers-depend on coastal and marine resources. Knowing the scope and contributions of our ocean economy will also help guide and inform future planning, management, and policy decisions," said Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico, Co-Chair of the House Oceans Caucus. "I'm proud to have secured legislative language in Congress to achieve this and appreciate NOAA's partnership and commitment to carrying out this important project."

"This is the first time our nation's territories have access to information about the value of their ocean economy," says Jeffery Payne, Ph.D, Director of NOAA's Office for Coastal Management. "Armed with this information, people are better informed about their region's economic health and able to incorporate this information into all planning efforts."

Congresswoman González-Colón advocated for legislative efforts to expand the ENOW dataset to include the U.S. territories. In 2020, as one of her requests to the House Appropriations Committee for Fiscal Year 2021, she requested the inclusion of report language directing NOAA to "take all reasonable steps to expand the scope of the Economics:National Ocean Watch (ENOW) dataset so that it includes the island territories." The Committee adopted the language as part of the reportaccompanying the Fiscal Year 2021 House Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill. It also provided $700,000 to support this effort to calculate the ocean economy of the territories.

The Explanatory Statementaccompanyingthe Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), signed into law on December 27, 2020-reiterated the House Appropriations Committee's directive and funding recommendation, thus enabling NOAA to begin a three-year project to expand the ENOW dataset to include Puerto Rico and the rest of the territories.

Additional Background:

• The Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) database describes six economic sectors--living resources, marine construction, marine transportation, offshore mineral resources, ship and boat building, and tourism and recreation-that heavily depend on the oceans and Great Lakes. ENOW provides the number of businesses, employees, total wages earned, and GDP estimates for each economic sector. ENOW's annual data are produced by NOAA's Office for Coastal Management for 406 coastal counties, 30 coastal states, and 8 regions from 2005 onward using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Census.

• In Fiscal Year 2021, NOAA received annual appropriations to address data gaps in the territories that had previously prevented expansion of the ENOW dataset. NOAA is releasing the first ever ENOW data for Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. These new data will be added to the existing ENOW Explorer tool, and will be available for download.

• In addition, new data were added for a more comprehensive understanding of the territories' marine economy than the current ENOW data set allows in that the revised ENOW data set will include three additional sectors: Government, Research and Education, and Utilities.

• ENOW helps users better understand the contributions and importance of the marine economy at the regional, state, territory, and county level. The ENOW data will help territories to track the number of businesses, employment, wages, and GDP associated with marine dependent businesses. These businesses are at greater potential risk from coastal hazards such as sea level rise given their proximity to the water's edge. These data will also aid in recovery from natural disasters that affect the ocean economy, such as hurricanes and typhoons, by providing baseline data to compare a recovering economy to.

• According to ENOW data, in Puerto Rico the ocean economy represents eight percent (8%) of total employment and produces about $2 billion in GDP, with tourism and recreation being the largest ocean-dependent sector.

The roundtable participants included personnel from NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, including its Director, Jeff Payne; Kate Quigley, Economist; Aranzazu Lascurain, Southeast and Caribbean Regional Lead; and Amber Fandel, Congressional Affairs Specialist, NOAA Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Julio Morell, Executive Director, Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS); Ruperto Chaparro, Director of the Puerto Rico Sea Grant Program; Pablo Méndez Lázaro, Ph.D, Lead Principal Investigator, Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network, Noaa Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP); Gerardo Sánchez Duvergé, Lead Economist/Economic and Social Planning of the Puerto Rico Planning Board; Charles Goodhue, Senior Economist and Vice president of ERG Group; Yasmin Garcia Martinez, Economist/Business Intelligence, Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development And Commerce; Jean Peña, Director of Government Affairs, Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association; Kiomy Lamb-Mercado, Civil Works Branch Chief, Programs and Project Management Division Task Force Virgin Islands-Puerto Rico (VIPR), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); Eduardo Pagán, TOTE Maritime & Board of Directors, Puerto Rico Shipping Association; Nelson Crespo, Advisor to the Council and Representative of the Commercial Fishing Sector, Caribbean Fishery Management Council; Gilberto Marquez, CFO, Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust.

Participant from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources
included Farel Velázquez, Director of Protected Areas and Auxiliary Director for Research and Conservation for the Secretary; Magaly Massanet, Puerto Rico Coastal Zone Management Program Director and Carlos Fajardo.

Joining virtually Greg Guannel, Professor, University of the Virgin Islands; Bernesha Liburd, Director and Dr. Lauritz Mill from the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research; Mally Smith, Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Jessica Helfand, Senior Economist, NOAA's Office for Coastal Management; Melissa Kopajtic, Business Statistics Branch, U.S. Census Bureau.

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