The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy will release its preliminary report on Tuesday, April 20. The commission's mandate is to establish findings and make recommendations to the president and Congress for a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy. The new policy will address a broad range of issues, from the stewardship of marine resources and pollution prevention to enhancing and supporting marine science, commerce, and transportation. For more information, see the commission's web site (www.oceancommission.gov).
Many of the marine scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have expertise in areas the commission will address in its report. The following UCSC scientists will be available to talk with reporters about the commission's preliminary report.
Gary Griggs, Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Professor of Earth Sciences
(831) 459-5006; griggs@ucsc.edu
Griggs chairs the UC Marine Council, which helps coordinate marine research on the UC campuses and provides information on ocean-related issues. He is an expert on coastal geology, shoreline erosion processes, and geologic hazards. Griggs helped organize a visit to Monterey Bay by members of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in 2002. Both Griggs and Mark Carr (below) gave presentations to the commission during the Monterey visit. Griggs will also take part in a Sacramento workshop organized by the state Resources Agency to discuss the new report and advise the governor's staff.
Mark Carr, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
(831) 459-3958; carr@biology.ucsc.edu
Carr studies kelp forest ecosystems, temperate and tropical reef fish, and coastal steelhead and salmon. He is a principal investigator of the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), a long-term collaborative research project focusing on nearshore ecosystems of the West Coast. Carr is particularly interested in the application of basic ecological information to the conservation of marine species and the management of fisheries.
Peter Raimondi, Professor and Chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
(831) 459-5674; raimondi@biology.ucsc.edu
Raimondi is a marine ecologist and, like Carr, a PISCO principal investigator. His research interests include a hemisphere-wide assessment of coastal biodiversity, the dynamics of intertidal and subtidal communities of marine organisms, and the ecology of the giant kelp. He is also involved in applied programs in marine ecology, such as the design and evaluation of monitoring programs to determine the impacts from the operation of coastal power plants.
