NOAA’s Oceanographic Imagery and AI/ML Applications Task Team (started in March, 2025) has joined marine imaging and AI/ML application experts from throughout NOAA to propose recommendations for the future of data stewardship, imagery annotation and AI/ML standards. Without a single approach, NOAA imagery efforts would continue to be fragmented, leading to difficulty in common access for the public, and harder proof on investment (in collecting these data). Together the team has drafted the following recommendations to enable smoother collection, analysis and access for NOAA imagery moving forward.