The Trump Administration has recently eliminated the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee that has been advising the federal government for 16 years. The Committee was charged, in part, to advise the Secretary of Commerce to enable and encourage the enhancement or expansion of protection of exiting marine protected areas and to establish or recommend new marine protected areas. The former Chair of the Committee, Brian Baird, was joined by 29 former members of the Committee in a letter condemning this action and requesting the Secretary to reinstate the Committee.  The 29 former members include world renown biologists, archaeologists, educators, fishermen, public interest groups, private sector representatives, tribal nation representatives and state and US government representatives). The letter states in part, "This proven, trusted and unique stakeholder forum cannot be replicated easily, nor can it be arbitrarily silenced without placing the nation's most treasured ocean ecosystems, and the economies they support, in jeopardy. Therefore, we respectfully urge you to continue the Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee into Fiscal Year 2020, and to support its work to strengthen the nation's system of MPAs for the benefit of current and future generations."  See the full text of the letter here. 

Members of the public are urged to use the letter as a template for letters of support of the Committee and its work.