Appendices

I.          Council Meeting Agenda
II.         Meeting Participants 
III.        Committee Reports
IV.        Ship Scheduling Statistics
V.         NOAA Report
VI.        NSF Viewgraphs
VII.       NAVO Report
VIII.      USCG Report
IX.        Academic Research Fleet Operations and Resolutions
X.         ONR Viewgraphs of UNOLS Fleet Statistics
XI.        Glosten Swath Report
XII.       R. Knox Message on Mexican Clearance Problem
XIII.      UNOLS Membership Application from UCSC
XIV.      Ship Scheduling Improvements
XV.       Z-Drive Report
 

Minutes
February 2, 1998

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION  -  The UNOLS Council met in the Conference Room of the Tremont House on 2 February 1998.  The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Ken Johnson, UNOLS Chair.  The items of the agenda, Appendix I, were addressed in the order as reported below. The participants of the meeting are listed in Appendix II.

Ed Shaar, Texas A&M, welcomed the Council to Texas and provided information on the University.  He announced that TAMU’s Dean of Geosciences, Dr. David Pryor along with David Brooks will attend the meeting.  The marine superintendent for ship operations at TAMU, Desmond Rolph, will provide a tour of GYRE on Tuesday afternoon.  Sandy Green, also in the TAMU ship operations group, was largely responsible for putting together the meeting arrangements.  TAMU has arranged an evening reception at the Tremont on the first day of the meeting.  On the second day of the meeting, TAMU will host a barbecue at noon.

Ken Johnson continued by introducing all meeting participants and welcoming new Council members Barbara Prezelin of U. California at Santa Barbara and Tom Shipley of U. Texas.

Ken added two items to the agenda:  (1) A discussion on his upcoming meeting at the Heinz Foundation and (2) Review of a SWATH design study performed by The Glosten Associates, Inc. for U. Washington.

ACCEPT MINUTES  -  The meeting minutes of the UNOLS September Council Meeting were accepted as written.
 

COMMITTEE REPORTS  -  The Committee Chairs submitted their written reports in advance of the meeting and are included as Appendix III.  Each report was summarized by Ken Johnson.  The chairs provided any updates and additional information not included in the written reports.

Research Vessel Technical Enhancement Committee (RVTEC)  -  Ken reported on RVTEC’s participation in developing science system testing for HEALY.  This project is off to a very good start with approximately nine institutions involved.  AICC had requested that RVTEC coordinate this process.  A team has been identified to address each system to be tested.  Each test will also be accompanied by a scientist in addition to the technicians.  The U.S. Coast Guard will support the science system testing development and sea trials.  The funds will be distributed to the technical support groups through the UNOLS Office.

A discussion evolved on the issue of funding for science operations on HEALY.  The ship is scheduled to begin science operations in the year 2000.  Dick Pittenger commented that the addition of funds to support science operations on HEALY once the ship is on-line needs to be addressed.  This matter should be added to the UNOLS agenda for future meetings.

Ken Johnson will write a letter to the Director of the Office of Polar Programs, George Hunt, and FOFCC Chair, Dr. Fred Saalfeld, encouraging adequate funds to support Arctic Science.  He will distribute the draft to the Council for comment.  The letter will be copied to Bob Corell and the USCG.

Ken concluded the RVTEC by discussing the status of SeaNet.  The SeaNet group, headed by Ellen Kappel of JOI, will be selecting vessels to receive the first five SeaNet units.  The group will survey the ship operators to determine what type of communication systems are presently installed on board.  They will attempt to install the units on platforms which will provide the best value in terms of both economics and broad operations.

Fleet Improvement Committee (FIC)  -  Following Ken’s summary of FIC activities, there was a discussion on NOAA fishery needs.  The Council indicated that a better definition of the actual NOAA fishery research needs is necessary.  It was suggested that perhaps the NOAA/UNOLS coordination team be reconvened to address this issue.  The FIC plans to begin developing science mission requirement for an ALPHA HELIX replacement.  They will try to incorporate an ice capability into the vessel as well as a fisheries capability.  The FIC believes that the academic community could benefit by having a vessel with a fisheries capability.  The Council agreed that the FIC should move ahead on the SMRs in the interest of the community.

The next FIC meeting is scheduled for 21-22 May at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  FIC will invite fisheries scientists to participate.

Research Vessel Operators’ Committee (RVOC)  -  Ken Johnson reviewed the RVOC reports.  The UNOLS ship inspection program has been resumed with Jamestown Marine Services conducting the reviews.  The purpose of the inspection program is to identify safety issues.  The program has also been useful in lowering insurance rates for the fleet.  The Council discussed distribution of the final inspection reports.  It was suggested that RVOC could provide the reports at their annual meeting.  It was suggested that the ship inspection program be mentioned at the UNOLS Town Hall Meeting at the February AGU/ASLO Ocean Science meeting.  It also could be included as an article in an upcoming UNOLS Newsletter issue.  The Council also suggested that Dennis Nixon be contacted for the statistics on UNOLS insurance rates as they compare with the rest of the sea-going industry.  This information can be included in the Town Hall Meeting information.

The current medical health services contract for the UNOLS Fleet is coming to an end.  A request for bids is now on the street.  It is expected that three companies will bid on the contract.

Paul Ljunggren concluded the RVOC report by reporting that over the next few years the UNOLS operators will need to deal with the ISM Code.  By the year 2002, ships involved in foreign voyages must be in compliance.  Each operator will need to designate a shoreside manager.  The responsibilities of this manager will need to be identified.  There may be pressure to come in to compliance earlier than 2002.  The operators are working together to develop a method that they can all follow to come in compliance.

Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC)  -  Jim Swift provided a lengthy written report of AICC’s activities.  The issue of technical support on HEALY during science operations was addressed by the Council.  The AICC and USCG are discussing potential options for technical service support.  One concept might be for the USCG to buy a person-year of technical liaison support from the U. of Washington (UW).  UW was suggested since HEALY will be homeported in Seattle.  The Council suggested that the liaison support be open to competitive bid from all UNOLS institutions.

DEep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC)  -  Ken Johnson reviewed the DESSC report.  Dick Pittenger elaborated on the ATLANTIS bow thruster problems.  Fixes have been identified and will be carried out during the ship’s present Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) period.  The cost of the fix is approximately $300K.  The bow thruster fixes are also applicable to REVELLE but no funding has been identified to correct the problem.  HVAC problems on ATLANTIS are also going to be corrected during the PSA period.

Don Heinrichs elaborated on the ship scheduling problems which were identified in Mike Perfit’s report.  NSF has taken a number of actions to hopefully prevent future scheduling conflicts.  For the next two years, there will be an NSF committee to look at long-term scheduling within the agency.  Before planning an NSF time series, the program will need to be reviewed by the committee.  The same procedure will be implemented for expeditionary type programs.  NSF’s new procedures that will go into effect for the February 15th proposal submittals.  The next edition of the NSF Ocean Sciences Newsletter will feature ships and address the committee’s plans.

Ship Scheduling Committee (SSC)  -  Ken Johnson began the ship scheduling report by providing a viewgraph with the statistics of ship usage from 1995 through 1998.  In 1998, there are 4,984 days scheduled, see Appendix IV.  The ship day totals, excluding Class <IV, are down almost 500 days from last year.  The table depicts the increase of ship time for the smaller ships with a decrease of large ship time.  Don Moller noted that there may be additional ship time in 1998 that has not yet been scheduled.  WECOMA may be used for studies in response to recent volcanic activities at Juan de Fuca Ridge.  There also may be additional time for studies of El Nino.  NOAA is also exploring various vessel options for 120 days of ship time to perform tuna surveys.  They are looking at the availability of WORTHY as well as UNOLS vessels.

Sujata Millick discussed the Navy’s interest in using UNOLS vessels for test and development (6.4/6.5) programs.  These programs would represent “new” ship time funds for UNOLS.  This part of the Navy has not had exposure to UNOLS, and as a result they are unaware of our scheduling procedures.  It was recommended that Jack Bash and Ken Johnson meet with ONR and their 6.4/6.5 program officers to provide a presentation on UNOLS facilities and scheduling procedures.

Don Moller commented on 1999 ship time requests.  At this time, there are approximately ten to 15 ship requests on file that are viable.  There may be another ten requests from the February panel reviews.  It is difficult to tell how this compares to the number of requests this time last year, but it appears to be less.  Last year was a light year for large ships, indicating that this year will also be light.  Don noted that he has seen 13 ROV requests, of these four have been funded.  Requests for the small vessels appears to be about normal.

Ken concluded by presenting a viewgraph showing UNOLS fleet charge days by agency.  Over the years, there has been a decline in total days for NSF and ONR.  NSF is still by far, the largest supporter of the UNOLS fleet.  Use by NOAA, NAVO and “Others” is up since 1995.  It was commented that it does not appear that ONR’s funding policy of 80% support from the facility program and 20% support from the science programs has resulted in an overall increase in ONR ship time.

AGENCY and OTHER REPORTS

Department of State - Tom Cocke provided the report for State.  He explained that Patsy Brown, his part-time assistant, has left CORE and consequently has departed from the State Department.  Patsy’s position was supported solely by NSF.  This leaves no backup persons in Tom’s office if he were to leave.  The work load calls for a full time assistant.  The Council recommended that the Chair write a letter to FOFCC and CORE requesting their assistance on this matter.  It was also suggested that this could be discussed at the UNOLS Town Hall Meeting.

Tom reported that meetings are being held with Mexico to try to resolve problems with clearances.  A NOAA ship was boarded during its last port call to Mexico.  Because of sovereign immunity, boarding is not acceptable.  NOAA has a scheduled three ship operation this year studying tuna and dolphin that will require Mexican clearance.  In a related note Tom reminded the Council that because the United States is not a signature to the Law of the Sea we can not execute the “applied consent” provision in the Law.  Applied consent would give consent for clearance if no response was heard from the host country after four months.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - A NOAA representative was unable to attend the Council meeting; however, a written report was provided by CDR. Elizabeth White, NOAA, and is included as Appendix V.

National Science Foundation (NSF)  -  The NSF report was given by Don Heinrichs, see Appendix VI.  He began by announcing various staff changes.  Bob Corell’s position has been extended until December 31, 1999.  Rita Colwell, a micro-biologist from the University of Maryland, has been named Deputy Director NSF.  The position of Program Director for Instrumentation and Technical Support has been advertised.

Don reviewed various program issues at NSF.  A modification and expansion of technical support for shared use instrumentation and data acquisition systems is under consideration.  They are trying to have support for shared use equipment come through the Technician Program office and rather than the science programs.  The goal is to have the changes in place by 1999.  The Guidelines for OCFS Proposals is to be updated and modified.  Dick West has the lead on this effort.  The guidelines were last written in 1994 and requires updating.  As an example, the present version includes no reference to the World Wide Web.  The hope to update the guidelines to the current state and electronic world.  NSF would like to have the update in time for 1999 ship operation proposals.  The Oversight committee (Committee of Visitors) recommends increased focus on “end-to-end” services and “quality of support” for ship operations in service of science projects.  The National Science Board mandated review of the current fleet operations with emphasis on exploring cost effectiveness for managing research ship operations.  The review is to be complete by February 1999.

Don discussed the NSF budget request for 1999, see Appendix VI.  Geosciences are slated for an 11.5% increase from $455.11M in 1998 to $507.31M in 1999.  The Ocean Sciences budget increases by 11.8%.  Within Ocean Sciences, Research support would see a 13.7% increase.  Enhanced support for individual investigators is planned. The Oceanographic Centers and Facilities increase is 9% from $52.26 to $56.96.  This would (1) provide fleet support to ensure required ship time and capabilities for research requirements, (2) enhance technical and shared-use instrumentation support for research projects to reduce the burdens on sea-going scientists, and (3) continue maintenance and ship improvement programs.

Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO)  -  CDR. Jim Trees provided the report for NAVO.  A copy of his viewgraphs are included in Appendix VII.  NAVO utilized 392 UNOLS ship days in 1997.  Twelve ships were used from eight institutions.  A total of $7.5M was expended with $6.2M going for ship time.  An additional $7.5M of support is planned for 1998 UNOLS operations.   Eight ships from seven institutions are scheduled for 431 ship days.  Ships planned for 1998 operations include: CAPE HENLOPEN, CAPE HATTERAS, WECOMA, PELICAN, REVELLE, THOMPSON, KNORR and NEW HORIZON.  By using UNOLS vessels, significant accomplishments and goals are being addressed in four operational areas of the Navy’s ASW Improvement Program.  These areas include: Pacific Fleet shallow water range, Score Range, AUTEC Range and Onslow Bay.  Jim concluded by noting that the planning aspects for 1999 are in process.

Bob Knox reported briefly on the NAVO data processing being performed at Scripps.  In 1997, some problems were experienced with the formats of the data received by Scripps from other institutions.  This made processing the data more complex and as a result delivery of the data to NAVO was slightly delayed.  For 1998, Scripps plans to contact all of the other institutions involved in NAVO cruises to ensure that properly formatted data is provided for Scripps processing.

United Stated Coast Guard (USCG)  -  A representative from the USCG could not attend the Council meeting, however, a written report was proved and is included as Appendix VIII.

Office of Naval Research (ONR) -  ONR’s activities were reported during the UNOLS Issues discussions.
 

UNOLS ISSUES:

National Science Board Action  -  Don Heinrichs provided a summary of the progress with the National Science Board mandated research fleet operations and management review.  His viewgraphs are included as Appendix IX.   The NSB reviewed the request for continuation of Oceanographic Research Vessel and Submersible Operations awards for five years.  The operation awards were approved for a shorter duration of two years, 1998 and 1999.  NSF staff are to review and report back on the cost-effectiveness of the present and possible alternative methods of managing ship operations.  A review panel will be established with six to eight members representing academia, industry and government. The panel is to provide a comprehensive and balanced evaluation of science support services and capabilities, ship operations, and size and organizational structure for the support of the academic research fleet.  It is to recommend actions by NSF to ensure the most cost-effective means of organizing and managing the research fleet for support of research requirements.  The review plan is to be submitted to the NSB in February 1998 for their concurrence.  In March 1998, the committee appointments will be made.  The committee should have its report to NSF management by December 1998.  In February 1999, NSF management will provide their response to NSB.  The renewal of operations award authority for 1999 and beyond could be issued by May 1999.

UNOLS Town Hall Meeting  -  Ken Johnson discussed plans for a UNOLS Town Hall Meeting to be held on 12 February at the AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting.  The meeting was prompted in response to the low attendance at the UNOLS Annual Meeting in September.  Following the Annual Meeting, Ken contacted various UNOLS representatives to determine why they have not attended UNOLS activities.  The responses varied.  It was decided to try to reach out to the community in a different forum, such as, a major science conference.

Ken presented the Council with a series of draft Town Hall viewgraphs.  The Council provided their comments along with topics that should be brought to the attention of the community.  Some of their general comments and suggestions included:

·     Discuss the purpose of the UNOLS ship inspection program noting that it identifies ship safety deficiencies, it helps to identify ship equipment needing repair, upgrade or replacement, and it helps to reduce fleet insurance rates.
 
·     Discuss recent clearance issues.
 
·     Encourage audience's participation through open and frank discussions. Reduce the number of viewgraphs and allow plenty of time for community discussion.
 
·     Provide briefing materials as hand outs prior to the presentation.  Make UNOLS Directory sheets available.  Provide bulletized lists of UNOLS information.  UNOLS "success stories" should be cited.

·     A thoughtful follow-up process should be carried out from the meeting feedback
 
·     Survey the audience prior to the presentation:  How many sea-going scientists?  How many agency representatives?
 
·     UNOLS issues and facts that could be addressed include ship scheduling procedures, alcohol consumption on UNOLS vessels, and ship lay-up costs.  There should be discussion on how science and ship operation funding is managed; what happens to residual ship funds when schedules are light?

The Council also made specific comments to Ken’s viewgraphs.  Some of these are listed below:

·     Meeting rationale - It was suggested that reference should be made to NSB/NSF’s review of facilities in regard to modes of operation and management.
 
·     Build partnerships - A bullet should be added explaining that partnerships encourage scientific intellectual exchanges.  The partnership with U.K. added 77 days for the DERBYSHIRE survey in Western Pacific.  This cruise reduced the dayrate for THOMPSON and helped to make an NSF cruise in the Western Pacific economically feasible.
 
·     UNOLS Structure - A viewgraph listing the UNOLS Council is needed along with an explanation of the Council nominating process.

·     UNOLS Committees - Provide specific examples of committee activities, tasking, and achievements.  Provide names and contacts of UNOLS Committee Chairs.  Explain how people can volunteer for UNOLS activities and committees.
 
·     Ship Scheduling - Give examples of scheduling efficiencies.  Provide statistics on cruises, on science days, and on trends.
 
·     Recent trends in Ship Support at the NSF - Various observations and question arise in regard to this viewgraph.  Is the community becoming non-seagoing scientists?  Ships will go away if community does not propose to use them - is this what the community wants and realizes?  Is proposal pressure low because scientists feel that the chances of getting funded are too low?  A primary point should be made that the NSF budget responds to proposal pressure and sea-going science needs.  By maintaining a larger fleet, flexibility is maintained.

·     UNOLS Partnerships - UNOLS/NAVO relationship fosters intellectual interchanges.  UNOLS signing MOU with NOAA adds a meteorological platform capability for the community.
 
·     Post Cruise Assessment - Explain that assessments will be discreetly handled.
 

UNOLS Fleet Statistics  -  Sujata Millick, ONR, provided a series of viewgraphs on various UNOLS fleet statistics over the past twenty years, see Appendix X.  The first graphs showed the ratios of NSF and ONR ocean sciences funding as compared to their respective ship funding.  NSF’s funding shows that for every $5 they put towards ocean sciences, approximately $1 goes towards the ships.  The ratio of ONR Ocean Sciences funding to ship funding has been in the range of 15 to 20 percent.  For both agencies, the ocean sciences funding has risen at a quicker rate than the ship funding.  The next graph shows the NSF and ONR operating days as well as the available science berths by year.  NSF operating days have fluctuated over the years, but there has been a general decline since 1978 when they funded over 4000 days.  ONR’s days have been relatively constant over the past 20 years at around 500 to 600 days.  The graph showed that the number of available science berths has gone up approximately by 150 per day at sea since 1978.  The last chart that Sujata provided showed the UNOLS ship capacity versus utilization.  The chart shows that if all planned ship retirements occur without replacement, utilization would perhaps converge with the optimal capacity of the fleet.  However, it was noted that BLUE FIN replacement plans are already in place and CALANUS replacement plans are moving along.  Additionally, it was noted that utilization of the fleet is not spread evenly among the classes.  This year, there has been a significant increase in small ship utilization while the large ships are underutilized.  The Council pointed out that these issues need to be factored into the equation when making long term projections.

Glosten SWATH Report  -  Ken Johnson reported on the U. of Washington’s recent study into a SWATH vessel.  The Glosten Associates, Inc. performed a conceptual design study to determine the feasibility of designing and building a SWATH to requirements provided by UW.  Russ McDuff forwarded a letter summarizing the findings of Glosten’s Study along with a document discussing the sea-keeping and operability of such a vessel.  This material is included as Appendix XI.

Tuesday, February 3, 1998 - Texas A&M Library

Charter Review  -  Clare Reimers chaired a subcommittee including Bob Knox and Rick Jahnke to review the UNOLS charter and recommend changes.  Sections of the charter have become outdated.  Additionally, readoption of the charter is required every three years and was last adopted in 1995.  The subcommittee provided the Council with a draft update of the charter prior to the meeting.  Clare provided an explanation of the rationale behind the changes.  The major changes in the Charter concerned composition of the Council and the definition of membership.  An extensive discussion followed as the Council reviewed each of the recommended changes.  The issue of meeting participation and quorum requirements were discussed.  Most changes were accepted as written with advice provided on others. The subcommittee will incorporate the Council’s comments and present a revised draft of the Charter at the summer meeting.

A nominating committee of Dennis Hansell, Chair, Clare Reimers and a third person yet to be named was established to develop a slate for replacing Council members with terms expiring.  The terms of Ken Johnson, Chair; Tom Royer, Vice Chair; Dick Pittenger, At-large representative and Bob Wall  Non-operator member are expiring.

Clearance Issues  -  Prior to the meeting Bob Knox provided the Council with a history of problems experienced by Scripps on obtaining clearance from Mexico, see Appendix XII.  Bob briefly addressed this issue and suggested that more negotiations with Mexico is necessary.

AGOR 26 Construction Update  -  Sujata Millick reported that the U. of Hawaii has been selected as the operator for AGOR 26.  Robert Hinton has been hired by UH to be the representative during the design stage and follow the ship through construction to delivery.  Selection of the design/construction team for the vessel is expected by late March/early April. Robert Hinton and representatives from ONR, the Oceanographer’s office and NAVSEA will be selecting the design/builder.  Phase one of the project is for design and model testing and is budgeted at $1M.  Phase two is the construction phase and budgeted at $36M.

Results of The Glosten Associates’ Study on Regulatory Changes  -  Glosten is completing a study on the effects of recent regulatory changes on new construction and more specifically whether or not an intermediate class research vessel can be economically built and operated under these rules.  A draft of the study suggests that intermediate ships will need to be inspected vessels and comply with the new International Safety and Management (ISM) rules of the IMO.  Glosten estimates that this will increase construction cost by approximately $800K.  They also estimate that the total cost for an intermediate vessel to be approximately $18M.  The Coast Guard’s manning rules should permit reduced manning.  The net could mean lower life-cycle costs.  The draft report was briefed at the fall RVOC meeting and again at the November FIC meeting.  The final report is expected soon.

The Council briefly discussed the implications of the new ISM regulations.  Documentation requirements to be in compliance with the new regulations are very detailed.  A large cost may be involved in generating the documents.  Under the new regulations, each ship operation group will need to identify a responsible shore-side individual.  The Council recommended that Dennis Nixon be contacted to address the question of liability to the marine superintendent under the new regulations.

NOAA Fishery Needs  -  A brief discussion was held concerning the possibility that NOAA/NMFS may be interested in using UNOLS vessels for some of their fisheries needs if these ships are appropriately configured.  The FIC is working on a set of science mission requirements (SMR) for the replacement of ALPHA HELIX.  Consideration will be given in these SMRs for a fish research capability.   The Council will await the results of the work by the FIC.

Long Term Utilization of the UNOLS Fleet  -  The discussion of long-term utilization of the UNOLS Fleet was discussed in the Town Hall Meeting agenda item above.

SEA CLIFF and ATV Retirement Plans  -  Sujata Millick reported that ONR has sent a letter to Admiral Krul indicating the academic community’s interest in obtaining SEA CLIFF for science use.  Once a decision is made by the Navy regarding SEA CLIFF’s future, the agencies will consider funding an engineering study for the vehicle.

Retirement plans for the ATV have been off and on again over the past year.  The Navy’s plans are unknown at this time.  Sujata indicated that the agencies will convene to discuss the vehicle’s retirement plans in 1999 and potential future uses.  Multiple parties have expressed an interest in operating the vehicle.  She indicated that a visit to the facility would be worthwhile.

Application for UNOLS Membership  -  The Council accepted the University of California, Santa Cruz’s application for UNOLS membership and forward their nomination for voting at the Annual Meeting, see Appendix XIII.

Discussion on the membership applications for the New Jersey Marine Science Consortia and the Southern California Marine Institute will be deferred until the issue of how to address the membership by consortia is resolved.

Ship Scheduling Improvements  -  Jack Bash briefly presented viewgraphs (see Appendix XIV) depicting the new Ship Time Request Form which will replace the original one on the web.  This form is in two parts with the first part being prepared for the initial request and the second part completed when funding is confirmed or when a program manager requests its submission.  Jack also presented the new world chart display that will track the requests as they are posted.  A world chart will be available for each year’s requests.

AGOR Z-drive Thruster Status  -  Dick Pittenger gave a brief history on the Z-drive failures to date, see Appendix XV.  He reported that WHOI will upgrade KNORR’s lower gears and lower thrust bearing during the next shipyard period in March-April 1998.  The upper gears will be inspected at this time.  The Glosten Associates has been studying the Z-drive problems and it appears that the problems are traceable to manufacturing defects and metallurgy.  It was noted that none of the gears manufactured by Klinenburg have failed.  All future orders of the gears will be to Klinenburg.  Insufficient gear tooth contact may be responsible for some of the failures.  A chart showing torque versus effective tooth contact was provided.

Dick pointed out that manufacturing for replacement gears takes thirteen months.  This is unacceptable.  KNORR and MELVILLE needs a ready set of spare gears.  Funds have not been identified for the spares.  The most recent failure of THOMPSON’s upper gears is still a mystery.  Inspection of the AGOR gears will be performed at every dry-docking opportunity.

Interim Fleet Improvement Plan  -  Ken Johnson reported that he will readdress the interim Fleet Improvement Plan for the next Council meeting.

Long Range Issues  -  Ken Johnson reported that he has been invited to attend a meeting at the Heinz Foundation, Ocean Science and Technology: The Next 25 Years.  This will be held on February 6-7 in the NAS Beckman Center, San Diego.  An array of leading oceanographers will present their view of the future.  Ken will express the need for new technology and facilities to meet future research needs.

The Council discussed other long range UNOLS issues.  It was recommended that UNOLS needs greater public relations.  Articles in various magazines were suggested, including airline in-flight magazines.  It was also recommended that UNOLS should submit papers to MTS for presentation at their conferences.  A joint effort with Glosten was recommended.  A summary of long range items included:
·     Promote the UNOLS Fleet.
·     Promote Town Hall Meetings.
·     Bring ships to big cities for public tours.
    · Conduct public outreach programs on inactive ships during lay-up period.
·     Send ship articles/press releases to state newspaper agencies.
·     Generate ship/ocean related videos for TV viewing.

It was recommended that a follow-up to the upcoming Town Hall Meeting might be a summary in EOS.

It had been suggested that formal presentations on technical issues with guest speakers might be useful for Council meetings.  However, this has not been met with overwhelming support.
 

UNOLS Membership Activity  -  This issue was covered in the discussion on the UNOLS Town Hall Meeting.

UNOLS Brochure  -  Vicky Cullen, WHOI, has submitted a proposal to NSF for updating the UNOLS Brochure.  Don Heinrichs reported that the proposal is working its way through the NSF review process.

ISM Regulations  -  Ken charged the RVOC to address the ISM issues.  UNOLS will assist in any way.

New Ship Construction  -  Skidaway’s plans for replacement of BLUE FIN are moving along.  They are working on the contract wording to address ABS requirements.  They have indicated that they are having some difficulties in finding a local shipyard for construction.  They may end up having the ship built in Nova Scotia.

There has been no recent news from Miami on CALANUS replacement plans.  It appears that they are working to match the design to the funding available.

Dick Pittenger reported that plans for construction of their small SWATH is moving along.  A meeting is planned for the regional organization of the Gulf of Maine on 7 April to discuss potential modes of operation for the vessel.

UNOLS Calendar  -  It was recommended that the summer Council meeting be held at the W. Alton Jones Campus in Rhode Island.  Availability of the facility will be investigated.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.