Peter Murphy Email & Phone Number

Greater Seattle Area

Function as regional point of contact for the NOAA Marine Debris Program in Alaska. Responsible to work with and support the marine debris community in Alaska with the goal of understanding the issue and impacts of marine debris within the region and identifying key challenges, successes and opportunities. Additionally, function as topic lead for detection and data management. Marine debris is a pervasive worldwide problem, but the debris itself can be difficult to locate and assess in the ocean or on shore, especially in remote locations. Work with remote sensing technologies and techniques from satellites to UAS, as well as manned aircraft, to evaluate different approaches. Many of these surveys, as well as other marine debris projects produce significant amounts of data. Responsible to assess best approaches to manage data to make it accessible and useful to the marine debris community, in alignment with evolving Federal requirements.

Greater Seattle Area

Provided field and remote support for the Gulf of Mexico Marine Debris Project, a multi-agency effort led by the NOAA Marine Debris Program to identify, assess, and mitigate the impacts of marine debris in the Northern Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This project conducted sub-surface sonar surveys off the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, identifying and characterizing debris objects. These objects were mapped and made available online as an aid to mariners and fishermen to help avoid gear snags and further damage. NOAA staff also worked with State Agencies, FEMA and USCG to communicate debris survey outputs and status, identify stakeholder priorities, and evaluate targets for removal.The project team worked on-site in the Gulf of Mexico region in rotation, two weeks on-site as the primary followed by four weeks supporting from the home office. During rotation, responsible for tracking survey progress, coordinating flow of data from field to web deployment, providing situational awareness to ongoing USCG response organization, and coordinating stakeholder engagement and outreach. For each set of target data, the goal was to provide all stakeholders, state and federal, the chance to evaluate targets for prioritization and classification for potential removal. This involved distributed data sharing in advance of on-site meetings with sonar survey teams and stakeholders.

Seattle, Wa

Managed West Coast Cost Recovery operations for NOAA Office of Response & Restoration Assessment & Restoration Division. This process focuses on tracking and recovering costs NOAA incurs during habitat assessment and restoration or mitigation for damage caused by various events. Cost are assembled into individual packages covering a given site for a given period of time, and are used in communication and negotiation with responsible parties, and potentially may be used in legal proceedings. Responsible for management of overall package process and queue, as well as coordination of team to maintain and query databases, organize outputs, and deliver packages that meet established standards.

Coordination of multiple contracts and tasks for Genwest clients, including NOAA Office of Response & Restoration, US Navy, BOEM, and local response organizations.