The ISSC was formed in 1982 to foster and promote shellfish sanitation through the cooperation of state and federal control agencies, the shellfish industry, and the academic community. A Briefing Book Compiled by the Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress providing nonpartisan research reports to members of the House and Senate, and made available to the public online by the National Library for the Environment . The project's scientific coordination is carried out by the University of Kuopio, Finland. A key feature is a lengthy species list that links to lovely photos, brief descriptions, distribution information, and related messages from the site's Forum. There is also a sizable collection of short pieces and archived forum messages on a variety of general topics, arranged alphabetically.
Users can send questions and review archived messages by date or via a keyword search engine.
Additional resources include suggested reading, related annotated links, and information on forum participants. Seaweed Information Server Links to internet resources on seaweed. Western Pacific Fisheries Coalition Dedicated to effecting change in marine resource management by stimulating people who may contribute to the problem to become part of the solution.