EXCO Minutes - September 25, 1995
Dear Globecians,
Minutes from the September GLOBEC Georges Bank Executive Committee meeting
follow. As always, your feedback is welcome.
Cheers,
Dian Gifford
The GLOBEC-Georges Bank Executive Committee met on 25 September
1995 at Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Present: Bob Beardsley, Steve Bollens, Ann Bucklin, Cabell Davis,
Ted Durbin, Dian Gifford, Greg Lough, Dan Lynch, Dave Mountain,
Peter Wiebe
Absent: Mike Fogarty
Guests: Bob Groman
The following items were discussed:
1. COP Connections to GLOBEC. NOAA's contributions to GLOBEC will
no longer come from the Office of Global Programs (OGP), but from
the Coastal Ocean Program (COP). COP's financial status is still
under revision in congress and its future is uncertain. The Senate
has recommended $13 Million for COP. The COP program manager, Don
Scavia, feels this is the minimum he needs to support COP's
programs, including GLOBEC. If funding comes through at less than
this, it is unclear that GLOBEC will receive funding. Scavia is
also interested in supporting the west coast GLOBEC effort. Exactly
where, within NOAA, COP will reside in the future is unclear.
Possible locations include the National Ocean Service (NOS) or
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Peter Wiebe reported
that Don Scavia prefers NMFS because NOS does not now support
offshore research and its management does not now seem sympathetic
to such research. Its focus is more coastal, estuarine, and
oriented toward coastal zone management. The OGP, managed by Mike
Hall, is also being moved and/or eliminated, but the overall NOAA
reorganization is on hold until after the new year (this means no
RIFs). EXCO views the incorporation of the GLOBEC Georges Bank
program into COP as a positive change, since our present program
manager, Mike Hall, still refuses to attend any meetings about
GLOBEC.
Peter Wiebe reviewed some of his dealings with congressional
staffers, and encourages all SIs to participate in these
activities, as appropriate. Peter and Mike Fogarty have prepared
a book of figures and illustrations about the COP predation studies
on the Bank and about the GLOBEC Georges Bank program. They have
used the hydroid story as a central theme in recent presentations
because it can be tied to environmental change and effects of
fishing on the ecosystem. Scott Gallager is giving a presentation
to Representative Lewis' staff at WHOI today. Peter suggests that
EXCO think about some guidelines for such presentations, so that
the program speaks with a unified voice.
Bob Beardsley noted that Don Scavia might ask GLOBEC PIs to write
to Jim Baker and/or Kathy Sullivan regarding support for the COP
program.
2. Another political item. Peter suggested that the perceived
competition with the west coast GLOBEC program is counterproductive
and that the Georges Bank program should build strong bridges with
the west coast program. We should be working on a strategy to
support all of GLOBEC's programs. Ted Stroub, who is organizing
the west coast program, has been extremely supportive of the
Georges Bank program. Peter sees the potential to work with COP as
a means to potentially leverage more funding. Dan Lynch noted that
the RMRP project, which was supposed to be a national program, only
spun up in the Gulf of Maine and is now dead, in part because it
did not have a national constituency. Cabell noted that more
international programs are spinning up, and have started at the
grass roots level of basic science as a good approach to study
marine populations. Dan Lynch noted that the Canadian GLOBEC
program is also committed to east and west coast programs.
3. Chief Scientists for 1996 cruises. The following roster of
Chief Scientists for the 1996 broadscale cruises was proposed:
Broad-Scale cruises:
January 9-21 (Endeavor): Ted Durbin
February 11-23 (Endeavor): This cruise is a problem because it
overlaps with the AGU/ASLO meeting.
??Peter Garrahan. ??Erik Horgan.
??Theresa Rotunno
March 11-23 (Oceanus): Peter Wiebe
April 8-20 (Endeavor): John Sibunka
May 8-19 (Albatross): Jack Green
June 3-14 (Albatross): Dave Mountain
Mooring Cruises/Drifter Deployments:
March 29-April 13 (Oceanus): Jim Irish
Early September (ship pending): Jim Irish
October 24-November 4 (Oceanus): Jim Irish
November 30-December 2 (Oceanus): Dick Limeburner
Dave Mountain reported that Wally Morse and Peter Berrien would
like to revisit the broadscale station strategy of 38/20 and
discuss the possibility of not returning for resampling, but simply
adding extra samples in order to minimize the time separation
between the two rounds of sampling. EXCO agreed that the
broadscale PIs would review this item before the next field year
begins.
4. The SI Meeting Agenda. Bob Groman reported that there was a
good response from the SIs. EXCO reviewed and revised the agenda
of SI submissions to date. SIs who have not yet responded were
identified and will be contacted by EXCO regarding participation in
the meeting [this has been done]. The final agenda will be
circulated on ggball by Bob Groman [this has been done].
There will be a workshop report produced which contains abstracts
of presentations. Each session will have a chairman and a
rapporteur (both from EXCO).
Dave Mountain noted that NMFS SIs do not have travel money yet this
fiscal year, and it is unclear how this travel can be paid. NMFS
has approached Mark Eakin about funding the travel. Peter Wiebe
also offered program office funds to cover the travel.
5. Invited Speaker Selection for AGU/ASLO. Dave Mountain and
Peter Wiebe are session chairmen for the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine
special session at AGU/ASLO. A list of invited speakers (if any)is
needed by 3 October. The committee could not achieve consensus on
who should be invited, but agreed on the desirability of achieving
both disciplinary balance and representation of program goals. It
was agreed that the focus for invited speakers should be
zooplankton, and noted that invited status is not important except
as a mechanism for SIs to give more than one presentation at the
meetings. Dave and Peter agreed to meet and generate a list of
invitees [This has been done].
6. Preparations for inviting fishermen to a future EXCO
meeting. Three fishermen have been invited to the SI meeting.
They were chosen by Ann Bucklin on the basis of leadership in
local fishing communities: 1 from NH, one from New Bedford, MA,
and one from Maine. The fishermen may want to participate in
the GLOBEC field program. If GLOBEC wants more platforms, we
will have to educate the fishermen to make certain kinds of
measurements and as well as investigate opportunties through
NOAA/NMFS to equip their ships. The committee discussed the
issue of benefits to GLOBEC of the fishermen's participation,
noting that GLOBEC does not make any claims about solving
management problems. However, their involvement may cross-cut
many issues important to NOAA, including using results from
basic science programs to help solve real-world problems. This
collaboration should be approached with care, and should
involve small numbers of fishermen selected for their interest,
knowledge of Georges Bank, and capabilities. It was agreed that
a general invitation to the commercial fishing industry to
attend the SI meeting would not be appropriate.
7. GOM meeting. GLOBEC EXCO members are invited to GOM data
meeting the 4th week of October and will receive separate
invitations from Dave Townsend.
The meeting adjourned at 1445 hours.