The advisory council for the newly designated Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary met Tuesday to talk about the next steps for the area.

John Armor, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Sanctuaries program, also touched on recent federal cuts, and how they might affect the wider NMS program.

"A number of folks are going to be leaving us and we're just adapting to what a National Marine Sanctuary System with a smaller workforce looks like," Armor said.

Last year, the NOAA designated more than 1,700 square miles of eastern Lake Ontario as a National Marine Sanctuary, one of 16 across the country. That designation was meant to offer certain protections to the area, which NOAA says is home to a number of historic shipwrecks.

The NMS director says he's confident the program will be able to get a lot done with the budget and staffing that it is provided.