UNOLS COUNCIL

Phone/Web Conference

Tuesday and Wednesday, July 1 & 2, 2008

2:00 pm – 4:00 PM EDT (each day)


A copy of these minutes are available as a pdf at <200807cncmi.pdf>.

 

Executive Summary - The UNOLS Council held a phone/web conference on July 1 and 2, 2008.  This conference served as the summer meeting. Major discussion items included: 

·         UNOLS Fleet schedules, estimated operation costs, and 2008 ship scheduling 

·         UNOLS policy regarding committee recommendations to federal agencies.

·         The DESSC recommendation to move forward with the 6500-Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (RHOV)

·         Crew and Marine Technician Retention and Hiring Issues

·         Academic Fleet Renewal Activities and Plans

The Council endorsed the 2008 slate of candidates as presented by the Nominating Committee.

Action Items:

New Actions:

1. Publish conditions in which outside funding for ship use could be sought and scheduled – The conditions should include policies regarding data collection and archiving, insurance, cruise participation, and cruise results. UNOLS will contact the agencies to determine the conditions.

2. UNOLS Policy Regarding Committee Recommendations to Federal Agencies – The Council was been asked to review the draft process for gaining Council endorsement of Committee recommendations to agencies. The process will be finalized after receipt of Council comments.

3. RHOC/DESSC Letter to NSF regarding RHOV Project:

4. Florida Atlantic University (FAU) – Inquire into the future operating mode of R/V Seward Johnson by FAU.

5. R/V Urraca – Evaluate operating mode and use profile for discussion at a future meeting.

6. Post Cruise Assessment Reports – Encourage greater response from all groups, particularly the marine technician groups. If needed, modify the form to better fit the captains and marine technician groups.

7. Gender Climate at Sea – Poll the UNOLS Representatives to determine which institutions have harassment training programs and how many need it. Based on demand, a voluntary on-line training program could be developed.

8. Codes of Conduct for Research Vessels - The Impact of Scientific Studies on the Environment – Invite Bill Lang (NSF) to the fall meeting to discuss this topic. The Council should review the ISOM Code of Conduct for Marine Scientific Research Vessels.

9. 2009 UNOLS objectives, priorities and goals – The Council should send recommendations for 2009 priorities and goals to Marcia McNutt.

10. SCOAR – Consider the future of the Committee and determine if it should continue.

11. Fall AGU Special Session on Data Management – Encourage the Ad Hoc Committee on Data Management Best Practices to submit a paper for the fall AGU Special Session.

12. Fleet Improvement Plan Draft Findings and Recommendations – Send a copy to the Council when available.

Continuing actions:

1. UNOLS Office Competition –Evaluation Committee’s recommendation is due to the Council on Sept 15, 2008.

2. Radio Frequency Spectrum Use - Continue efforts to gather data on RF spectrum use. (RVTEC Subcommittee)

3. Crew and Marine Technician Retention and Hiring Issues –RVTEC and RVOC will present proposed solutions to the Council in the fall. (Martin, Zerr, and Lamerdin).

4. Ad hoc Committee on Data Management Best Practices – The ad-hoc committee will carry out their charge in accordance with their approved terms of reference.

5. SMR Update Project – Update the SMR documents according to the project description stated on <http://www.unols.org/committees/fic/smr/update08/index.html>  [FIC]

6. RVOC Safety Standards – Complete the draft RVSS Update (Safety Committee and Office).

7. Continue Review of PCAR - Mike Prince will provide materials to the PCAR committee and resume the review process.

Appendices

I

Agenda

II

Participants

III

Ship Scheduling Report

IV

Draft 2008 Council Slate

V

Council Process for Review and Endorsement of Committee Recommendations to Federal Agencies - Draft

VI

Summary of UNOLS Issues and Activities

 

 

Day 1:  Tuesday, July 1st  

 

Open the Meeting:  Marcia McNutt, UNOLS Chair, called the phone/web meeting to order at 1400 EDT.  The meeting agenda is included as Appendix I and the participant list is included at Appendix II.

 

Accept Minutes - A motion to accept the minutes of the February 2008 Council Meeting <http://www.unols.org/meetings/2008/200802cnc/200802cncmi.pdf> was made and accepted with the corrections from Marcia McNutt and Nancy Rabalais (Wiebe/Rabalais).

 

UNOLS Fleet schedules, estimated operation costs, and 2009 ship scheduling – Stan Winslow reported on the status of the 2009 ship scheduling process.  Slides are included in Appendix III.  Two informal conference calls were held, mostly to address large ship schedules.  All of the UNOLS ship schedulers were asked to post Letters of Intent (LOIs) by June 30th.  Conference phone/web calls are planned from late July to September to refine the schedules for all ship classes. 

 

A slide showing the pending and requested ship days for 2009 as compared to 2008 scheduled days was presented.  The schedules are no better than last year at this time.  It is hoped that more days will be requested by “other” sponsors as the year progresses. 

 

Mike Prince commented that many of the NSF award results from the May panels are now known.  In the slide, they are still showing as pending. 

 

Stan – High fuel prices are having a huge impact on operating costs.  NOAA is reducing ship days in order to match their budget.

 

Appendix III includes the ship scheduling slides showing the distribution of ship time by region and class, and a slide showing the ship requests by ship.

 

Federal budgets that support ship time will probably be flat.  Bill O’Clock (NOAA), Linda Goad (NSF), and Bob Houtman (ONR) have all indicated level funding for 2009.  Unless additional ship time is funded, lay-ups will probably have to be considered.

 

Discussion:

 

Nominating Committee Report– Peter Wiebe (Nominating Committee Chair) presented the draft 2008/2009 UNOLS Council slate. The Nominating Committee included Peter Wiebe (Chair), Bob Collier, and Mary Jane Perry.  The slides are included as Appendix IV.  Peter reviewed the Council terms ending in 2008, which included the Chair-Elect position.  Dr. Bruce Corliss, Duke University and Dr. Denis Wiesenburg, University of Alaska Fairbanks agreed to be run for the Chair position.  Three candidates have agreed to serve in each of the other two Council positions that are open in 2008, operator and at-large representative.  The Council approved a motion to accept the slate as presented (N. Rabalais/Morrison)

 

UNOLS Policy Regarding Committee Recommendations to Federal Agencies - The UNOLS Charter already includes words regarding UNOLS committee recommendations:

“Committees are established for such special purposes as decided by UNOLS and the UNOLS Council. These Committees address issues as set out in their terms of reference. Their recommendations to funding agencies shall be delivered through the UNOLS Council or Executive Committee.”

 

UNOLS Committees often provide recommendations to agencies and operating institutions which have a cost impact on the overall budget available for other UNOLS facilities. These recommendations are often, but not always, vetted and approved by the UNOLS Council, usually dependent on the costs involved. To date, UNOLS has lacked a consistent process to route those recommendations through Council.

 

DESSC-RHOC Letter to NSF with recommendation to move forward with the 6500-m Replacement HOV – Prior to the Council meeting, a joint letter was sent to the Council from the Deep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC) and the Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (HOV) Advisory Committee (RHOC) for consideration and endorsement.  The letter is addressed to NSF and recommends continued support for the acquisition of a 6500m RHOV.  Peter Wiebe has recommended that there be two separate letters; one from DESSC and the other from the RHOC. 

 

The RHOC reports to NSF.  Deb Kelley explained that since the RHOC letter is joint with DESSC and it is the UNOLS policy that all committee recommendations to the agencies be endorsed by the Council, the letter was sent to the Council.

 

Marcia explained that one of the RHOC members had abstained from endorsing the RHOC/DESSC letter because he felt that it is not within RHOC’s charge to advocate for science.  If the technical part of the letter is extracted into a separate letter that is from RHOC, the one abstaining member would probably sign-on.  Then the DESSC letter could advocate for additional funds based on science justification.  The science justification could be stronger and this is what the DESSC letter could provide.

 

Marcia explained that it is the Council’s role to advise DESSC on the best way to advocate given the much higher costs.  Marcia has been trying to reach Susan Avery (WHOI) to get a better understanding of options for moving forward with the RHOC project.  One option could perhaps include WHOI seeking outside support by cost-sharing with private industry and the federal government.  UNOLS could assist by reviewing proposed modes of operations for a vehicle that has been acquired in part by private funds to ensure that the community has continued access to the asset.  The HOV is very visible and provides outreach.  UNOLS could address the scheduling challenges that might arise from such a partnership.  The RHOV offers the potential for partnerships. 

 

Marcia felt that a separate letter from DESSC would be cleaner and add better definition.  The RHOC technical parts of the letter could be sent separately to Julie Morris (NSF).  Marcia would continue to try to reach Susan Avery.  Deb Kelley agreed with this option because it would allow a letter to be sent to NSF quickly.

 

Marcia explained that there was an Academy study that stated the need for an RHOV.  There was a peer reviewed process for accepting the RHOV proposal.  The project confronted some complexities and as a result, the price went up.   If we can find a way to fund the project, without taking away funds from other science, it would be an easy decision.

 

The Council agreed that two separate letters should be sent to NSF, one from RHOC and the other from DESSC.

 

Policy on Committee Recommendations – Mike Prince drafted a UNOLS policy regarding committee recommendations to the Federal Agencies.  He said that there have been many instances when committees provide recommendations to the agencies.  Some of the recommendations have significant costs and others do not.  It was suggested that a cost threshold be set in terms of capitalization and operations.  Carin Ashjian suggested that the Council define “significant” in the proposed process for committee recommendations to the Council.  The Council agreed that the threshold should be $1M.

 

The proposed process for committee recommendations was reviewed.  When a Committee prepares a recommendation to the agencies, it will be circulated to the Council by email with a deadline for comments.  If there is a consensus, The UNOLS Chair would prepare a cover letter with the Council endorsement and send it to the agency.  If there isn’t a consensus, the Council will hold a phone meeting.  The UNOLS Chair would then explain the concerns with the Committee Chair and suggest how to rewrite the recommendation.  The Council turnaround on a committee recommendation would be about a week or two.  The intent is to not delay decisions.

 

Brian Midson joined the phone meeting and asked what the Council had decided regarding the RHOC/DESSC letter.  Marcia replied that there would be two letters; one from RHOC and the other from DESSC.  Brian said that a meeting is planned at NSF tomorrow to discussion the RHOV project.

 

Marcia said that she would contact Cindy and let her know what the Council decided and encourage her to send NSF the letter with the technical advice regarding the RHOV project.  

 

Crew and Marine Technician Retention and Hiring Issues –Pete Zerr reported that Stewart Lamerdin and Mike Prince put together a survey on how many near misses there were.  A miss is defined as not having enough crew to sail.  Ship lay-ups and cut-backs make it very challenging to hire personnel.  One possible recommendation is to fund a position at the UNOLS Office to deal solely with crew and marine technician hiring and human resources.  A presentation will be made at the next Council meeting with the full recommendations.

 

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution – Mike Prince reported that Tim Askew has retired.  We haven’t been informed on the structure of the re-organized group at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU).  UNOLS will need to look at the way FAU will use the ship.  We should also look at the way Urraca is being used.  The ship hasn’t had much science support from NSF.

 

1600    Adjourn Day One

 

Day 2:  Wednesday, July 2nd

 

Day 2 - Opening Remarks – Marcia McNutt welcomed the Council.  After yesterday’s phone meeting, Mike Prince revised the document that provides guidelines for Committee recommendations to agencies (Appendix V).  It was pointed out that the draft document doesn’t include a process for setting priorities regarding committee recommendations.  Setting priorities will be a difficult process.  Marcia said that MBARI uses a matrix approach to establish priorities.  This topic could be added to the agenda for the fall Council meeting.

 

Peter Wiebe suggested that step 5 be changed to “All available members.”

 

Linda Goad commented that Julie Morris would like to see a copy of the draft.

 

The Status of UNOLS On-Going Activities and Issue - A brief written summary of many of the following items is included in Appendix VI.

 

Ad-hoc Committee on Data Management Best Practices – A status report of the ad-hoc committee’s charge, activities and future Plans are included in Appendix VI.  Their work is guided by two broad principles:  1) The community is best served if metadata are routinely reported by every platform to a central repository in a standard format, and 2) It's easier to train a dozen operators than a thousand scientists.  A Legacy/UNOLS data workshop is being planned.  It will be held on September 3-5, 2008 at LDEO.  Participants include representatives from NSF, RVTEC, UNOLS Data Committee, and data managers.

 

Jim Holik (NSF) said that the goal is to stop funding individual institutions for data archiving.  They would like to move to a centralized system.  During the NSF ship inspections, they are finding that everyone is collecting similar data.  He doesn’t want to place the burden of data management on the marine technicians.  He hopes that ultimately, a centralized data repository will be helpful for the marine techs.

 

Peter Wiebe said that there is an effort to have a special session at AGU on “Data Management and Best Practices.”  He recommended that the UNOLS ad-hoc committee submit a paper.

 

Academic Fleet Renewal Activities and Plans (see Appendix VI)

 

Science Mission Requirements (SMR) Update - NSF and ONR requested that UNOLS revise and reformat the Science Mission Requirements (SMRs) for UNOLS vessels.  The SMRs could benefit from updating, re-organization, and incorporating the lessons learned.  Stronger statements about minimum/ threshold requirements and establishment of priorities are needed.  A project website has been created:

<http://www.unols.org/committees/fic/smr/update08/index.html>.

 

Mike Prince has created a draft re-organization of the Ocean Class SMRs that includes a table with threshold and desirable values for parameters as well as priority levels.  FIC will review the draft Ocean Class SMRs and provide feedback in August.

 

Peter Wiebe asked if the UNOLS efforts that were spent on evaluating the X-Craft were considered.  Mike – he thinks they will have some input.

 

Wiebe asked how many vans can the Ocean Class ships carry.  Mike – PEO-Ships has indicated that the Ocean Class can accommodate two vans.

 

Regional Class Acquisition - Phase I of the Regional Class acquisition effort, the design phase, is nearing completion.  There will be two ship designs.  Phase II, detailed design and construction, has been suspended until funding is available (FY 2010 or later).  Industry pressures and time delay has led to construction estimates being $50-60M per ship.  NSF remains committed to the RCRV, but will likely be forced to build fewer ships.  The Phase II contract will not be managed with NAVSEA, but might instead be managed by an institution.

 

Ocean Class Acquisition Status -   The Navy is planning for Program Initiation for construction of two ships.  Deliver of the ships is planned for FY14 at a cost of $92.5M per ship.

 

Alaska Region Research Vessel – There were no funds in the FY09 NSF MREFC account for the ARRV.  Before funding, all MREFC projects must:

•         Have “robust” Final Design Reviews that includes, cost, contingencies,, and risk analysis.

•         NSB approval after FDR before proceeding to construction.

 

The ARRV acquisition effort is facing challenges regarding the payment scheme.  There are some long-lead-time construction items that need to be ordered now.  Also, shipyards won’t like payments over three years.  The ARRV is expected for delivery in FY2012.

 

R/V Marcus Langseth – The ship entered service in February 2008 and is deploying 3-D arrays at EPR.

 

Fleet Improvement Plan – Dave Hebert reported that FIC is close to finalizing the Fleet Improvement Plan’s Findings and Recommendations.  Peter Wiebe asked if the Plan addresses service life extension programs (SLEPs) and OOI.  Annette replied that SLEPs are addressed and must be balanced with excess capacity that we have now.  The FIC has kept in touch with OOI.  They have been working to scaled down budget constraints.

 

Interagency Working Group on Facilities (IWG-F) – Future Initiatives.  Slides are included in Appendix VI.  Terms of Reference have been drafted that task the IWG-F to establish an inventory of current and planned federal facilities available to accomplish Ocean Research Priorities Plan (ORPP) goals.  The inventory would focus on shared-use federal assets and would include Federally-owned and/or Federally-operated facilities and infrastructure.  It would also include assets which were constructed with majority funding from the Federal government. Creating the inventory would be a one year effort.

 

Consortium for Ocean Leadership – Marcia McNutt provided a summary of the April Ocean Leadership meeting and other Ocean Leadership activities.  They have formed working groups on various topics.  There is an education group, public policy group, infrastructure group, etc. Marcia will chair the infrastructure group.  They will make recommendations that can feed into the Ocean Studies Board (OSB) study on ocean facilities.

 

There should be a very strong connection between the research that needs to be done and the facilities that are needed to support the research.  One of the problems is the time horizon for facilities is much longer than science planning (which is much shorter).  The challenge is planning for facilities that can meet current science as well as the future science initiatives.

 

Linda Goad – Unless there is more money for science, there won’t be funds for facilities.  It would be good for UNOLS to become more proactive and approach the scientists.

 

Marcia – The science community has had a difficult time effectively promoting themselves.

 

Linda – The Ocean Leadership should assist with promoting ocean sciences.  Marcia – This is an area that Ocean Leadership is addressing.   A recent example is the NY Times article from Bob Gagosian.  Mike Prince added that this was a big discussion topic at the April Ocean Leadership meeting.  There are people at high levels that are focusing on this.

 

Mike Prince – UNOLS cannot lobby, but we can educate.

 

When the IWG-F completes the inventory, they will do a gap analysis.  IMG-F will work with JSOST throughout the project.  The IWG-F project will likely coordinate with OSB.  Both studies should get input from Marcia’s Ocean Leadership group and the Fleet Improvement Committee Fleet Improvement Plan.

 

Marcia continued by reporting on the Ocean Leadership April meeting.  Marcia McNutt, Vernon Asper, and Mike Prince attended the meeting.  The Ocean Leadership trustees include representatives from member institutions as will as three “outside” trustees who are not from member institutions.  Leon Panetta, Bob Correll, and Frank Cushing have agreed to serve as the outside trustees.  The UNOLS Chair will be a non-voting member and invited guest of Ocean Leadership.  Ocean Leadership is working to encourage member participation in meetings.  The members cannot vote as members of the Board on all Board matters, but do elect the Board.

 

Peter Wiebe asked if UNOLS is still an ex-officio member of the IWG-F.  Reply – Yes, we are invited to all of their meetings and typically join via phone conference.

 

Continue Review of PCAR  - Mike Prince reported that the Post Cruise Assessment Report subcommittee membership includes Bob Collier (Chair), Mary Jane Perry, and Mary-Lynn Dickson.  Joe Malbrough (RVOC Vice-Chair) has accepted the position vacated by Matt Hawkins.

 

Linda Goad commented that the NSF Committee of Visitors saw the PCA form and liked it.  They understood the importance of the report in setting priorities, identifying problems, etc.  Linda forwards the PCA as appropriate to the other program managers.  Linda remarked that the low response from the technical support groups is disturbing.  She encouraged all to continue to fill out the forms and send them in.  The forms can be included in equipment proposals for justification purposes.  Linda emphasized that everyone should be aware that these are essential reports.  Problems cannot be fixed unless we know about them.

 

Mike suggested that perhaps a different version of the PCA form could be created for use by technicians and captains.  Linda said that this would be fine.

 

Linda closed by saying that the PCA reports are essential and getting three different perspectives (science, tech, and captain) is very important.

UNOLS Office Competition - The Cooperative Agreement to host the UNOLS Office by Moss Landing Marine Laboratories will expire on April 30, 2009.  A solicitation for a new host was announced in early 2008 and in response three proposals were received: University of Miami – RSMAS, Columbia University – LDEO, University of Rhode Island – GSO.  An evaluation committee was appointed by Marcia McNutt: Bob Knox, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Chair); Vernon Asper, University of Southern Mississippi; and Clare Reimers, Oregon State University.  The committee is setting up interviews with the candidates during July.  The Evaluation Committee will recommend their top-ranked proposal in early September. The recommendation from the Evaluation Committee will be reviewed and endorsed by the UNOLS Council and then by the UNOLS membership by October 1st. The single top-ranked proposal, together with the UNOLS endorsement, will be submitted to NSF and ONR by the selected institution.  The UNOLS Office will Transfer in May 2009

Linda Goad reported that NSF is conducting a business review of SIO and WHOI.  The UNOLS office will also likely be looked at.  Linda said that although UNOLS recommends a proposal, there is nothing to stop another institution from submitting a proposal.  Linda feels that everyone should be informed.  Mike Prince said that if there is an NSF solicitation for the UNOLS Office and another proposal is submitted, then NSF would have to deal with it.  Bob Houtman, as the IPS Head, will now oversee the UNOLS Office grant.

HiSeasNet Shadowing - Bill Martin explained that HiSeasNet shadowing problem occurs when the heading of the ship interferes with the HiSeasNet antennae.  Bill Martin emailed an impromptu survey to the Tech Manager list asking various questions relating to shadowing and how cruises may have been affected on the vessels they support.

Basically vessels have had to make heading changes during cruises to transfer data due to the shadowing. This has not been intrusive to science to the point that scientists have lost or cancelled research objectives. In the responses received no one responded that a PCA submitted mentioned lost science time due to shadowing issues. Responses indicated that science users like the HiSeasNet service and would like increased capabilities for data through-put over resolving shadowing. Video through-put is becoming a hot-topic from more users than shadowing.  A focus group meeting has been scheduled to be conducted the day before the regular RVTEC meeting. The intention of this focus group will be to discuss problems/accomplishments of the various vessel installations and to work as a group and provide input for future developments for the HiSeasNet program.

One possible solution that has been suggested is to purchase a portable KuBand antennae for redundancy with the HiSeasNet; however, the KuBand doesn’t work off-shore.

Wire Workshop - Mike Prince reported that Rick Trask has been funded to hold a wire workshop.  The proposed workshop would focus on improving the capabilities of the UNOLS standard “CTD” cable (0.322” 3 conductor cable) through new design specifications or design proposals with participation by cable manufacturers, users, operators and engineers.  The goal will be to incrementally increase the payload, rotational (torque balance) characteristics and power/data capabilities of this standard workhorse cable.  Improving the cable without changing the diameter will improve the safety and reliability of CTD operations and other uses of this cable without having to replace or modify all the CTD winches in the UNOLS Fleet. 

Bill Martin remarked that they wanted to have the Safe Working Load (SWL) guidelines in place before holding the workshop.  The SWL guidelines are almost finalized.  The SWL data will be helpful in reaching decisions.

 

The workshop will probably be held in the fall.

Gender Climate at Sea – Mike and Marcia have looked into harassment on-line training strategies.  This topic was discussed at the RVOC meeting and they discovered that many institutions already require harassment training.  They decided that as the first step, we need to determine which institutions do not have training and how many need it.  Then as needed, we could implement a voluntary on-line training program.

RVOC Safety Committee – Pete Zerr reported that the Safety Committee has been working on reformatting the Research Vessel Safety Standards (RVSS).  It has been a major effort.  There will be a new appendix on Safe Working Loads.  The Standards should be ready for the Council in the next few months.

 

Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) - Information about TWIC and requirements for the UNOLS community is available at:

<http://www.unols.org/info/UNOLS_TWIC_INFO_051408.pdf>.  TWIC cards are required for unescorted access to secure vessels and facilities.  UNOLS recommends that scientists who use secure vessels/facilities obtain TWIC cards.  WHOI was very proactive in getting TWIC for their students and faculty.  We didn’t realize that students with J1 and F1 visas would be denied and labeled as security threats.  The issue made it into an article in the New York Times.  Until further notice, UNOLS is recommending that students and researchers from other countries that are in the U.S. on a Visa with restricted authorization to work such as an F-1 or J-1 Visa do not apply for a TWIC.  Mike Prince participated in a phone conference with the US Coast Guard seeking clarification.  The USCG and TSA standby their policy to deny TWIC cards.  They may however, change the wording in their rejection letters.

 

Mike presented a slide showing how many people are enrolled and activated with TWIC.

 

Codes of Conduct - The Impact of Scientific Studies on the Environment/Law of the Sea –The ISOM Research Vessel Codes of Conduct – draft available at:

 http://www.unols.org/meetings/2007/200710cnc/200710cncap_06.pdf.  The document is being finalized with edits relating to the wording on chemical tracers and adding a line about dumping of waste biological (fish) material.  

At the RVOC April 2008 Meeting, RVOC approved a motion to have Pete Zerr (Chair) present the ISOM Code of Conduct to the UNOLS Council with a statement that RVOC endorses this document, but that in this country, it can only be effectively adhered to with support form the scientific community and the Federal agencies.  RVOC feels that the title should be changed for Code of Conduct for Scientific Studies.  None of the U.S agency representatives were at the meeting where the Code was approved.

 

Marcia – The code should include a separate environmental section. 

 

Peter Wiebe – Chief scientists must know the Code.

 

Linda Goad – It would be good to have Bill Lang (NSF) address the Council about these issues.  Multibeam and chirp are coming under scrutiny.  He is involved with all of these activities for the U.S.  Before the Code is endorsed, we should hear from Bill Lang.  It was suggested that he be added to the fall agenda.

 

Safety Standards for Human Occupied Vehicles - Annette DeSilva reported that the document was drafted and circulated to the HOV Safety Committee, DESSC, NSF and NOAA for review.  The HOV Safety Committee, DESSC and NSF comments were minimal. NOAA comments were numerous.  An HOV Safety Committee phone meeting was held on May 27th to discuss the NOAA comments.  The Committee is reviewing the remaining comments and incorporating as appropriate.

 

UNOLS Annual Meeting Plans – The Annual Meeting will be held on October 2-3, 2008.  The keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert Gagosian, Consortium for Ocean Leadership.

 

UNOLS objectives, priorities and goals – Marcia asked everyone to think about UNOLS objectives, priorities and goals for 2009.   She encouraged the Council to send comments by email.

 

Committees – Mike Prince reported that the MLSOC would like to have a DESSC-like meeting at AGU.  The winter DESSC and MLSOC meetings will both be on the Sunday before AGU and at the same location if possible.

 

SCOAR – Mike Prince reported that they are still trying to recruit a Chair.  They had hoped to have someone with a lot of experience with SCOAR and ship operations, but his duty precludes him from taking on anything additional.  We need to take a look at this committee to determine if we are going to continue with it.

 

Bill Martin said that he will be at sea during the Fall meeting and he thanked the Council for serving with them.  Marcia thanked Bill.

 

A motion was made and passed to adjourn (Wiebe/Carin)  4:51.

 

Adjourn Day Two