5th International Fishers Forum on Marine Spatial Planning and Bycatch Mitigation

The Fifth International Fishers Forum on Marine Spatial Planning and Bycatch Mitigation will be held at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipai, on August 3-5, 2010.  Topics to be discussed include “Fishing industry experiences with marine spatial planning on the U.S. west coast” and “”Socioeconomic effects on commercial fisheries from spatial planning by the US Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.”

The program may be found here, http://www.fishersforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IFF5_ENGagenda_WEB072710.pdf

Abstracts of papers presented at the meeting may be found here, http://www.fishersforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IFF5_ENGabstracts_WEB072710.pdf

Administration Releases Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force

Obama Administration officials released the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force on July 19, 2010, which would establish a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Policy) and create a National Ocean Council (NOC) to strengthen ocean governance and coordination.  The Final Recommendations prioritize actions for the NOC to pursue, and call for a flexible framework for coastal and marine spatial planning to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes. 

Government’s Offshore Drilling Commission Criticizes Government’s Moratorium

The Chairman of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission has criticized the Obama Administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium. Commission co-chairman Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida who was appointed to the Commission by president Obama, stated that there’s a “disconnect between Washington and the Gulf region about the sense of urgency needed.” Another co-chair, former Environmental Protection Agency Chief William Reilly, stated , “I come to  this experience with a much greater sense of the economic dislocation being experienced here than I had three days agao” before the commission began hearings in New Oreleans. “It’s not clear for me why it should take so long to reassure oneself about (safety) considerations on those rigs.”

NOAA SAB Meets on Ocean Zoning in the Gulf of Mexico

The Science Advisory Board of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the only Federal Advisory Committee advising NOAA on strategies for research, education, and application of science to operations and information services. The NOAA SAB will meet on July 20, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday, July 21, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.  The meeting will be held both days at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Education/Conservation Bldg., Room 1003-1004, Sarasota, Florida, Phone: 941-359-5700.  This meeting is open to the public, and public comments will be accepted.