NOAA’s Southeast and Caribbean Regional Collaboration Team (SECART) initiated NOAA in the Caribbean in 2011 as a forum to improve communication and coordination among NOAA and its partners working in the Caribbean. NOAA in the Caribbean fosters more effective engagement with stakeholders and more efficient delivery of services, as well as improves collaboration in the region. 

NOAA in the Caribbean includes NOAA employees and partners currently active in research, management, training, or other efforts in the Caribbean. NOAA in the Caribbean recognizes the same geographic scope described in the NOAA Caribbean Strategy — the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem. While the primary focus is on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, NOAA in the Caribbean seeks to maintain resource exchanges with Florida and, as appropriate and practicable, with partners in the wider Caribbean. 

Mission: NOAA in the Caribbean is a forum for communication, partnership, and user engagement that supports the delivery of the agency’s mission in the domestic and international Caribbean.

Goal: Identify and respond to local and regional challenges, needs, and opportunities in the Caribbean region by increasing communication and providing a platform that connects NOAA, its core partners, and key users in the region.

Objectives: 

• Objective 1 - Facilitate the identification of local and regional needs and opportunities in the Caribbean, and work within NOAA to inform and champion resourcing of and support for Caribbean efforts.
• Objective 2 - Improve coordination and application of NOAA capabilities by enhancing internal NOAA communications on Caribbean efforts and facilitating two-way exchange of information between NOAA, its partners, and its user community.
• Objective 3 - Support NOAA’s Caribbean Strategy by tracking and communicating NOAA’s progress towards achieving the Strategy’s goals and objectives, and by using the Strategy as the primary organizational framework for NOAA in the Caribbean activities and composition.