As of September 30, 2019, the U.S. Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Federal Advisory Committee has been discontinued.

The committee was set up to advise NOAA and the Department of the Interior on ways to strengthen the nation’s system of MPAs (see Committee charter). It included representatives of diverse stakeholder groups, including scientists, academia, commercial fishermen, anglers, divers, state and tribal resource managers, the energy and tourism industries, and environmentalists, among others. The public was also allowed to comment.