Faculty Progress Report 05-2
April - March 2005

  1. Research Proposals for 2006-2007 Now in Review
  2. Florida Sea Grant Program Assessment Team Review
  3. Oceans and Coastal Resources Council
  4. Workshops/Conferences
  5. Jobs
  6. New Website to Highlight Coastal Socioeconomics

Contact:


Research Proposals for 2006-2007 Now in Review [top]

Florida Sea Grant has received 76 Statements of Interest in response to its Call for Research Proposals in the following categories: Aquaculture: 17; Biotechnology: 14; Coastal Hazards: 9; Ecosystem Health: 11; Fisheries: 13; Seafood Safety: 4; Waterfront Communities: 8.

The Statements are currently being evaluated by external mail reviewers and an out-of-state panel. Faculty will be notified of the results the week of April 18, 2005.


Florida Sea Grant Program Assessment Team Review [top]

Over a four-year period, the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) evaluates each of the 31 Sea Grant programs through use of an external Program Assessment Team (PAT). This review is used by NSGO in its overall assessment of program quality, is used to improve individual program performance and provides a basis for comparison among programs over the long term. The evaluation also affects the merit funding portion of the overall Florida Sea Grant program core funding from NOAA for the next four yeras. Finally, the current federal authorizing legislation passed in late 2002 for the National Sea Grant College Program mandates that all Sea Grant programs be rated into categories with no more than 25% of the programs being placed in the top two categories. All federal Sea Grant appropriations above federal fiscal year 2004 levels are to be allocated to the Sea Grant programs in the top two categories. The PAT evaluation thus not only evaluates program quality, but also is important in setting the future funding levels for Florida Sea Grant (FSG).

The Florida Sea Grant Program Assessment Team review is scheduled for May 16-20, 2005, at the University of Florida. You are invited to submit written comments on any aspect of the program or its work by April 29, 2005, to:

Dr. James McVey
Program Monitor
National Sea Grant College Program
Eleventh Floor, Room 11829
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
jim.mcvey@noaa.gov


Oceans and Coastal Resources Council [top]

Bills in the Florida Sentate and House have been introduced as follows:

HB 1627 - Oceans and Coastal Resources Council: Establishes the Oceans and Coastal Resources Council; provides findings and intent; provides for board composition, purpose, and responsibilities; authorizes reimbursement for travel and per diem; requires the Department of Environmental Protection to provide certain services to the council; requires the council to submit preliminary and annual reports to the Governor and the Legislature. Go to website http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/ and select Bills.

Senate 1670: Oceans & Coastal Conservation Act: provides definitions & establishes purposes re Oceans & Coastal Resources Conservation & Management Act; requires state agencies involved in protecting & managing state's oceans & coastal resources to encourage & support public-private partnerships & programs to preserve those resources; requires that DEP & Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission establish Fla. Oceans & Coastal Science Work Group, etc. Go to http://www.flsenate.gov/Welcome/index.cfm and locate bills.


Workshops/Conferences [top]

  • How Should Florida's Water Supply be Managed in Response to Growth?, March 31 - April 1, 2005, Orlando Marriott Downtown. Complete agenda and registration form at www.purc.org.
  • World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, April 20-22, 2005, Orlando. Includes FSG session on "Marine Biotechnology: Promising Drugs from the Sea." See http://www.bio.org.
  • Connecting the Gulf of Mexico and Human Health, May 4-6, 2005, Long Beach, Mississippi. The purpose of the workshop is to follow up on findings and recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. For additional information Dr. D. Jay Grimes jay.grimes@usm.edu or LaDon Swann swanndl@auburn.edu.
  • Third International Symposium on GIS/Spatial Analyses in Fishery and Aquatic Sciences, August 22-26, 2005, Shanghai, China. For additional information http://www.esl.co.jp/Sympo/3rd/01_01.pdf.
  • Partnerships for a Common Purpose: Cooperative Fisheries Research and Management, September 11-15, 2005, Anchorage, Alaska. Being held in conjunction with the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. For additional information http://www.fisheries.org/apa_symposium05/.
  • 3rd International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals, November 28-December 2, 2005, Miami, Florida. For additional information http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/coral/.

Jobs [top]
  • University of Washington Sea Grant Director -- The University of Washington Sea Grant is inviting applications for the full-time position of Director. For additional information contact Dr. Jeffrey Simmen sgdsearch@apl.washington.edu.
  • University of Connecticul Sea Grant Director -- The University of Connecticut Sea Grant is inviting applications for Director. For additional information and questions contact Sylvain DeGuise, sylvain.deguise@uconn.edu, website http://www.seagrant.uconn.edu/.

New Website to Highlight Coastal Socioeconomics [top]

The Management and Budget Special Projects Office launched a new website highlighting Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS).  The site offers time series, geo-referenced data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and web based data analysis and display tools to facilitate data retrieval, mapping, analysis, and assessments.  Contents include demographic and housing information as well as personal income and employment data.  The data are available for coastal areas and watersheds as well as by state, county and other boundaries used by the Census Bureau.  The primary objective of the site is to increase awareness and improve access for the coastal stewardship community to socioeconomic information.  Visit the site at http://stics.noaa.gov.  For more information, please contact Percy Pacheco or Peter Wiley.