Below is a brief description of the fifteenth public meeting. The agenda and minutes will be posted when they become available.

Description
Agenda
Minutes
Summary

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy held a meeting at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on April 2-3, 2003, to discuss the development of recommendations for a coordinated national ocean policy. The meeting included discussion of draft policy options and a public comment period. This was the third Commission meeting dedicated to public discussion of policy options and the fifteenth public Commission meeting overall.

• Welcome and Opening Comments by the Chair
• Approve minutes of Jan. Commission meetings

1:05 – 3:30 p.m.

• Academic Research Funding in Ocean Sciences
• Exploration
• International Leadership in Ocean Sciences
• Technology Development
• Existing and Required Ocean Science Infrastructure
• National Ocean Research Leadership Council
• Aquaculture
• International Management of Living Marine Resources
  

3:30 – 3:15 p.m. Break

3:45 – 6:00 p.m.

• Living Marine Resources Enforcement
• Vessel Monitoring System
• General Vessel Pollution Issues
• Cruise Ship Pollution
• Invasive Species
• Marine Debris
• National Ocean Council and Nonpoint Source Pollution
• National Ocean Council and 2002 Farm Bill Implementation
  

6:00 p.m. Adjourn

Thursday, April 3, 2003

9:00 a.m. Convene

9:10 – 10:45 a.m.

• Governance Issues

10:45 – 11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• Governance Issues

12:30 p.m. Break

1:30 – 3:45 p.m.

• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
• Sewage Treatment Plants
• Stormwater
• Clean Water Act Section 404 Program
• Port and Sediment Management
• Atmospheric Deposition of Pollutants
• Incentives, Disincentives, and “Backstop Mechanisms” for Nonpoint Source and Watershed Pollution
  

3:45 – 4:00 p.m. Break

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Public Comment

5:00 p.m. Adjourn

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Summary

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy held its fifteenth public meeting on April 2-3, 2003, in Washington, D.C., to discuss a multitude of issues associated with developing a new national ocean policy. This was the third and final public meeting to focus on the deliberation of policy options by the Commissioners. A public comment period also was held.

Mirroring the two previous public deliberation sessions held by the Commission, one in November 2002 and the second in January 2003, a Draft Policy Options document (pdf,385kb) provided the framework for the policy discussions. A copy of the document was distributed to the public at the meeting.

In his introductory remarks, the Chairman emphasized that the information on the Draft Policy Options slides should be considered pre-decisional and that language on the slides would be the subject of discussion in open public session. He also stressed that the text on the slides may be modified based on the discussions that were about to take place. He urged those in attendance to refer to the meeting transcript for the full context of the discussions. The Chair noted that the Commission would use the transcript from the meeting as the minutes, which would be available on the Commission website for review in the coming weeks.

After dispensing with Commission business, which included approving the minutes from the January 2003 meeting, the working group chairs presented draft policy options to the full Commission. The Governance Working Group options were presented by Governance Working Group Chairman Bill Ruckelshaus. The Stewardship Working Group options were presented by Stewardship Working Group Chairman Dr. Paul Sandifer and the Research, Education and Marine Operations (REMO) Working Group options were presented by REMO Chair Dr. Jim Coleman. Discussion by the Commissioners followed the presentation of each set of policy options.

Issues discussed by the Commission on April 2-3, 2003, included:

• Academic Research Funding in Ocean Sciences
• Exploration
• International Leadership in Ocean Sciences
• Technology Development
• Existing and Required Ocean Science Infrastructure
• National Ocean Research Leadership Council
• Aquaculture
• International Management of Living Marine Resources
• Living Marine Resources Enforcement
• Vessel Monitoring System
• General Vessel Pollution Issues
• Cruise Ship Pollution
• Invasive Species
• Marine Debris
• National Ocean Council and Nonpoint Source Pollution
• National Ocean Council and 2002 Farm Bill Implementation
• Governance
• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
• Sewage Treatment Plants
• Stormwater
• Clean Water Act Section 404 Program
• Port and Sediment Management
• Atmospheric Deposition of Pollutants
• Incentives, Disincentives, and “Backstop Mechanisms” for Nonpoint Source and Watershed Pollution

Following the policy option discussions, staff was directed to begin initial drafting of the Commission’s final report. There are no more full Commission meetings planned while the 16-member Commission continues its deliberative phase of work. The Commission’s findings and recommendations will be presented to Congress and the President in a final report in 2003.