# Presentation: 875829

## The Next Generation of NOAA Under the New Ocean Governance Structure

- Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)Under Secretary  of Commerce for Oceans and AtmosphereNOAA AdministratorJuly 14, 2005

**Notes:**
Welcoming Remarks:

Good afternoon and welcome.  It is indeed a pleasure for me to speak to you for the 57th meeting of the Ocean Studies Board.

This presentation serves 2 purposes.  I will provide you with a very basic overview of the administrative and functional organization of NOAA – its mission and goals, its line offices and goal teams.  The agency operates through a horizontal and vertical structure, but our mantra is “One NOAA.”

Second, I want to discuss how NOAA has taken a leadership role in the Ocean Action Plan and some of the activities that we are actively working on and how these fit into the New Ocean Governance Structure.

## The Next Generation of NOAAUnder the New Ocean Governance Structure

- NOAA’s Mission Goals
- NOAA’s Realignment
- Budget Trends
- US Ocean Action Plan
- Ecosystem Approaches to Management
- Earth Observations
- Ocean Research Priorities Plan
- Promote Education and Outreach
- NOAA Leadership

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**Notes:**
There are a few topics I think warrant some of our attention today, including some changes at NOAA since I arrived, some of the primary components of the US Ocean Action Plan, and how NOAA is taking a leadership role in the next generation of ocean, coasts and Great Lakes policy.

## NOAA’s Vision

- An informed society that uses a comprehensive understanding of the role of the oceans, coasts and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the best social and economic decisions

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## NOAA’s Mission & Goals

- To understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet the Nation’s economic, social and environmental needs
- Mission Goals:
- Protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through an ecosystem approach to management
- Understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s ability to plan and respond
- Serve society’s needs for weather and water information
- Support the Nation’s commerce with information for safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation
- Provide critical support for NOAA’s mission

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**Notes:**
In our effort to fully integrate everything we do into a cohesive “One NOAA” we created these four mission goals to help guide us.  In our proposed Strategic Plan, we have added one additional goal to highlight organizational excellence and mission support.

## NOAA’s Alignment by Goal

- Stakeholders

- Ecosystems
- Weather & Water
- Climate
- Commerce & Transportation

- Outcomes

- NOAA Line Offices (6)

- NOAA Strategic Plan

- Mission Goal Teams

- NOAA Councils (14)

- Users

- Constituents

- Employees

- Partners

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**Notes:**
This diagram attempts to show how it all “comes together”.  How NOAA has aligned itself by the four mission goals and where NOAA councils serve as a theoretical platform for NOAA policy, which incorporates input from the various line offices.

Mention that the NOAA Ocean Council helps coordinate NOAA policy for the new governance structure

## Historical NOAA Budget Trends

- ($ in Billions)

- Senate Mark

- House Mark

- $4.5

- $3.4

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## FY2006 Proposed Operating Plan

- ($ in Billions)

| % Wet Side of Total Budget |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FY05 Enacted |  | 48% |
| President’s Request |  | 42% |
| Senate Mark |  | 45% |
| House Mark |  | 38% |

- $3.6

- $4.5

- $3.4

- $3.9

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## U.S. Ocean Action Plan

- Ecosystem Approach to Management
- Build an Ocean Observing System
- Develop Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Instrumentation Strategy
- Increase Ocean Education

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**Notes:**
The Executive Order establishing a Cabinet-level Committee on Ocean Policy, gives ocean and coastal governance issues-for the first time-direct access to the President.  The Committee, held its first meeting on the 5th of April, and advised the President and the heads of Executive departments and agencies on policies concerning ocean-related matters.

The Committee will create an 18 month work plan to address the Report’s recommendations not addressed in the U.S. Ocean Action Plan including further actions on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues that address governance principles, filling gaps in legislative authority, and streamlining unnecessary overlapping authorities.  The NORLC (National Ocean Research Leadership Council) will be subsumed into the new Interagency Committee on Ocean Science and Resource Management Integration which will adopt the mandate of the NORLC adding ocean resource management to its roster of responsibilities.

Several immediate actions were identified by the Administration that provide direction for ocean policy.  I would like to now go over some of these actions.

## Ecosystem Approach to Management:Adaptive

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**Notes:**
The first item, Ecosystem Approaches to Management, must first be defined so that we can operate on common understanding of what constitutes management at an ecosystem scale.

The first part of our definition states that an ecosystem approach to management must be adaptive.  What does that mean?  Each ecosystem is different.  Each region has different issues, organisms, external factors, etc.  The research and monitoring must be suited to those issues and organisms.  Only then can there be an improved understanding of that particular ecosystem or region.  Improved understanding of ecosystems leads to an evolved policy and planning process based on new challenges and issues specific to the region.  These policies are implemented, monitored and evaluated on successes and failures.  Adaptive management is a revolving process.  An example of this revolving process is adjusting a total allowable catch (TAC) based on new scientific data and assessment.

## Ecosystem Approach to Management:Regionally Directed

- 10 LMEs
- Regional determination of transboundary issues and sub-ecoregions
- Collaborative management

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**Notes:**
Next, an ecosystem approach to management must be regionally directed.  As alluded to in the last slide, one set of management principles can not be used for the entire planet.  While the Earth is really the ultimate ecosystem, we have learned that regions are different.  

NOAA has decided in collaboration with federal, state, academic and NGO partners to establish 10 ecosystems based on the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) that you see here.  These 10 LMEs can be further divided.  Transboundary issues and sub-ecoregions will be determined with regional partners.  As we know, ecosystems do not adhere to the political boundaries that humans have constructed.  Many ecosystem boundaries cross local, state, national and international boundaries.

Partnerships from the regional level will be vital to the success of this approach.  You have already heard Mary Glackin speak about the interagency subcommittee, SIMOR and its contribution to the governance structure regarding resource management.  We look forward to collaborating with other agencies through SIMOR regarding Ecosystem Approaches to Management.  

This directly supports the President’s E.O. for Cooperative Conservation.

## Ecosystem Approach to Management: Accounts for Ecosystem Knowledge & Uncertainty

- Incorporate current knowledge into management
- Incorporate uncertainty
- Continue to push for more understanding of uncertainty

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**Notes:**
The next two parts of our definition tell us that an ecosystem approach to management must take account of ecosystem knowledge and take account of uncertainty.  We are learning more and more about how things interact on an ecosystem level and how, for example, several different factors can influence the year class of a fish species including prey availability, water conditions, weather, etc.

As we move along the continuum to an ecosystem approach to management, we have to continue to incorporate what we have learned into our management practices.  By utilizing baseline assessments, managers can make informed science-based decisions.  

We can not risk forgetting that there is a lot that we do not know.  We will always be learning more.  We can not proceed as if we know everything.  We have to take into account our uncertainty.  Sometimes make difficult decisions about how cautious our decisions needs to be based on our levels of uncertainty.  In our last meeting, I showed this picture.  This picture makes it very clear that there is a lot to an ecosystem and that there is a lot that we do not know.  As a community, we have to push for learning more about those uncertainties.  As we progress through this process, however, we must also encourage people to come onboard with this approach despite those uncertainties.

## Ecosystem Approach to Management: Balances Diverse Societal Objectives

- Economic needs
- commerce
- fishing industry
- Social needs
- recreational fishing
- beach tourism
- boating
- Environmental needs
- healthy fish stocks
- healthy waters
- healthy beaches

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**Notes:**
The final part of the definition is that an ecosystem approach strives to balance diverse societal objectives.  That statement links well to NOAA’s mission.  NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation’s economic, social and environmental needs.  We must balance economic, social and environmental needs.  That is another way of saying balance diverse societal objectives.  Those objectives must be balanced on both a regional, national and ultimately, a global level.

While NOAA is not a corporation and does not deliver a product, we are here to serve the public.  This is basically a directive to ensure that stakeholder needs in each ecosystem are understood and met, while maintaining a healthy ecosystem.  Some of those stakeholders are recreational or commercial fisherman, some are environmental groups, some are owners of a dam or farmers in the Klamath River basin.  We have an incredibly challenging mandate.  

The end goal is to have productive, healthy and sustainable ecosystems, that all sectors of the economy can utilize for their benefit. 

## GEOSSGlobal Earth Observation System of Systems

- GEOSSGlobal Earth Observation System of Systems

- Nearly 60 Countries & European Commission
- More than 40 global organizations
- A distributed system of systems
- Improves coordination of strategies & observation systems
- Links all platforms: in situ, aircraft, & satellite networks
- Identifies gaps in our global capacity
- Facilitates exchange of data & information
- Improves decision-makers’ abilities to address pressing policy issues

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**Notes:**
I’d like to switch gears now and discuss earth observations.

GEOSS is the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.  This is really the largest umbrella under which everything else fits.  This is an end-to-end system of integrated pieces.  The aim is not to change the excellent technology and other approaches that are already working, but to identify and implement those things that will make GEOSS emerge in a manner that is as interrelated as the planet we aim to observe, predict and protect.  This leads to the concept of interoperability, and the recognition that no matter how effective and efficient all of our single-purpose systems may be, their value will be much greater when they can work together.

This effort has received wide international attention. There are nearly 60 countries and the EC and more than 40 global organizations.  We have countries coming to the table at these meetings, for example Iran, that don’t necessarily join the United States at the table on other issues.  And it’s not just a mid-level scientist sitting down and discussing this – we have ministerial level participation from all of these countries.

GEOSS will give us the ability to harness, use and fuse data – it will yield the sound science on which sound policy and decision-making must be built.  In February, I was joined by our new Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, in Brussels where all of the participating nations agreed to a 10-year global implementation plan.

## U.S. Contribution to GEOSSAn Interagency Effort

- http://iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov/

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**Notes:**
The United States has their own internal effort – the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System - that constitutes our contribution to GEOSS.  With significant stakeholder input, a 10-year US implementation plan was developed by the U.S. Group on Earth Observations comprised of 15 agencies and 3 White House offices.  The U.S. plan is an important contributor to global plan.  I encourage you to read it.  

## IOOS Backbone

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**Notes:**
In the United States, we have several regional ocean observing systems.  This map shows all of those systems.  These serve as the backbone of the entire U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).  These are excellent efforts throughout the country that have already contributed valuable information to science and management.  These systems need to be linked together.  They need to be structured so that data can be easily shared between systems and the output is exactly the same and feeds into one larger system – IOOS.

Remember from our last meeting that observations have made valuable contributions to our management decisions already.  We discussed the California/Oregon drift gill net fishery and how that is closed at certain times of the year in order to reduce interactions with sea turtles.  We discussed the North Pacific Climate Regimes and Ecosystem Productivity (NPCREP) effort in Alaska that provides managers, including the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, with quantitative and qualitative assessments and predictions to engage in an ecosystem approach to management.  And this is only the beginning.  In the future, the advances in understanding and management will be even better.

We need to continue the current momentum with this effort and get more people - in the public, the industry, in environmental groups and in academia - on board.  MAFAC can help build that consensus.
The Regional Associations are developing regional observing systems: 	
	AOOS—Alaska Ocean Observing System (Alaska)
	PacIOOS—Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (Hawaii & Pacific Islands)
	NANOOS—Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (Pacific Northwest)
	CENCOOS—Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (Central & Northern California)
	SCOOS—Southern California Ocean Observing System (Southern California)
	GLOS—Great Lakes Observing System (Great Lakes)
	GCCOOS—Gulf Coast Coastal Ocean Observing System (Gulf of Mexico)
	SECOORA—Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (Southeast)
	MACOORA—Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (Mid-Atlantic)
	NERA—Northeast Regional Association (Northeast)
	CaRA—Caribbean Regional Association (U.S. Caribbean Islands)

## 20 Year Research Vision:Develop an Ocean Research Priorities and Implementation Strategy

- Ecological assessments and predictions of impacts from climate change
- Improved intraseasonal to seasonal to decadal forecasts utilizing Earth System models
- Improved systems for protecting the public from emissions from specific point sources
- Growing economic significance of longer-term climate predictions for agriculture, manufacturing

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**Notes:**
Along with building an earth observation network, the Ocean Action Plan also stipulated that an Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy must be developed through the JSOST subcommittee.  At NOAA we are putting together our 20 year Research Vision that will feed into JSOST plan.

NOAA must be able to adapt its posture and develop the necessary tools to support society’s changing needs for information and services over the coming decades.  Research is at the heart of turning NOAA’s vision into reality.

## Examining NOAA’s Science & StructureeETT & iETT

- NOAA is currently examining its science in 2 venues:
- eETT (External Ecosystem Task Team)
- iETT (Internal Ecosystem Task Team)
- The teams are concentrating on two fundamental questions:
- Is NOAA doing the right kind of science to meet its current and future management needs?
- How should NOAA organize its science enterprises?

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**Notes:**

The “NOAA ecosystem research and science enterprise” encompasses all of NOAA supported activities (internal and external) that add to scientific knowledge and translate it into products and services that support the Agency’s mission.  

It is important to know where ecosystem research is located in NOAA and why.  
The success of a research enterprise lies in more than the results of research projects and the diligence of scientists - the organization of the research enterprise is critical in its own right.  The lack of clarity of where research resides throughout all of NOAA has become problematic and counterproductive to the agency’s science-based mission.
There has been substantial debate within NOAA over what constitutes Research & Development (R&D) and the relationship between R&D and science.  
Science is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world.  Research is the systematic effort to gain knowledge.  
One of the areas where there has been substantial attention to this difference is whether Fishery Observations are R&D or, as they are currently classified within the Goal Team structure, “Ecosystem Observations”.  

iETT Role:  The iETT has representation from the Line Offices (and a NOAA-wide office) that are most engaged in ecosystem science and research.  These iETT members work with their Line Offices to provide the external members with the necessary data and information so that they can conduct the review.  They have also played an important role in drafting the original framework and in planning the initial meeting.

## NOAA Organic Act

- NOAA Formed by Executive Order #4 in 1970
- Since 1970 over 200 Disconnected Authorities
- NOAA Organic Act serves as a Charter Providing Coherent, Cohesive Set of Authorities
- Key Recommendation of the Ocean Commission
- Explicitly Authorizes Broad Education and Outreach Effort that Bridges Programs

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**Notes:**
I would like to take a minute now and discuss some exciting changes going on in Washington involving NOAA. One of the recommendations of the Ocean Commission was to create a NOAA Organic Act.  Last year the Bush Administration responded to this and drafted the first NOAA Organic Act which would establish NOAA within the Department of Commerce and provide a framework for the future.

In 1970 NOAA was created by the Nixon Administration as part of a reorganization of existing agencies.
Working together the agencies could do “greater good.”

Since 1970, over 200 pieces of legislation have been passed forcing NOAA to have various disconnected authorities that do not necessarily mesh well.

The Organic Act enables NOAA to do our work better by more broadly partnering with groups and the authority to disseminate information.  One of the most important aspects of the Act gives NOAA authority to conduct education and outreach in direct support of NOAA’s mission. 

I would like to take a minute now and discuss some of the education and outreach programs that NOAA, in conjunction with states and local authorities is conducting. 

## NOAA Education 

- NOAA’s Research and Education Partnerships with Colleges and Universities
- National Sea Grant College Program
- NOAA Joint Research Institutes
- Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program (new in 2005)
- NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program
- Interagency discussion on Ocean Education coordination underway

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**Notes:**
Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program in honor of the former Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D, SC).  
The scholarship program will provide approximately 110 awards of up to $28,425 to college juniors and seniors pursuing undergraduate degrees related to oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education.
Reflective of the broad academic disciplines that support NOAA’s mission, this scholarship hopes to draw the interest of students from the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science, social and behavioral sciences, and teacher education.
The scholarship will provide two years of academic assistance, a paid full-time summer internship at a NOAA or NOAA partner facility, and attendance at a Hollings Scholars Conference at the conclusion of the internship.   
The internship is intended to provide scholars with “hands-on” multidisciplinary training opportunities in NOAA related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities.
This program compliments a larger effort to enhance NOAA’s strategic efforts to promote environmental literacy and ensure a future world class workforce capable of predicting environmental changes, managing ocean resources, protecting life and property, and providing decision makers with reliable and useable scientific information.

Joint JSOST/SIMOR Education Task force
The Task Force will identify opportunities and articulate priorities for enhancing ocean education, outreach, and capacity building.
The NOAA Ocean Council along with the NOAA Education Council will guide NOAA’s participation in this interagency task group.  NOTE: Marleen Kaplan is the NOAA representative on the JSOST-SIMOR Task Force.

## NOAA Leadership

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**Notes:**
For this last slide I did not want to give the impression that NOAA is only focused on only domestic issues.  Since this talk is focused on the “Next Generation” of NOAA I thought it would be appropriate to show that NOAA is not only engaged at the national level but we are also providing leadership in the international arena as well.

This is just a sample of some of the international organization that NOAA is involved in:

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – Jack Kelly
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) – Rick Spinrad
Group on Earth Observations (GEO) - VADM
International Whaling Commission (IWC) - Hogarth
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) - Hogarth

## QUESTIONS...

- Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)Under Secretary  of Commerce for Oceans and AtmosphereNOAA AdministratorJuly 14, 2005

## Backup Slides

- Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)Under Secretary  of Commerce for Oceans and AtmosphereNOAA AdministratorJuly 14, 2005

## FY05 Enacted Budget by Goal

- Climate
- 6%

- Ecosystems
- 35%

- Commerce & Transportation
- 4%

- Mission Support
- 34%

- Weather & Water
- 21%

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