other participants in ocean and coastal activities as 
the chair considers appropriate. 
(5) Members selected from among individuals 
eminent in the fields of marine science, marine pol-
icy, ocean engineering, or related fields. 
(6) Members selected from among individuals 
eminent in the field of education. 
(b) TERM LIMITS.—Members shall be appointed for 
3 years. 
(c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Advisory Panel shall 
advise the Committee on the following: 
(1) Development and implementation of the Na-
tional Strategy for Ocean and Coastal Science. 
(2) Policies and procedures to implement the 
National Ocean Partnership Program and on selec-
tion of partnership projects and allocation of funds 
to implement partnership projects under the pro-
gram. 
(3) Matters relating to national oceanographic 
data requirements, ocean and coastal observing sys-
tems, ocean science education and training, and 
oceanographic facilities including renewal of the na-
tional academic research fleet. 
(4) Any additional matters that the Committee 
considers appropriate.
(d) PROCEDURAL MATTERS.—(1) All meetings of the 
Advisory Panel shall be open to the public, except that 
a meeting or any portion of it may be closed to the public 
if it concerns matters or information that pertains to na-
tional security, employment matters, litigation, or other 
reasons provided under section 552b of title 5, United 
States Code. Interested persons shall be permitted to ap-
pear at open meetings and present oral or written state-
ments on the subject matter of the meeting. The Advisory 
Panel may administer oaths or affirmations to any person 
appearing before it. 
(2) All open meetings of the Advisory Panel shall be 
preceded by timely public notice in the Federal Register 
of the time, place, and subject of the meeting. 
(3) Minutes of each meeting shall be kept and shall 
include a record of the people present, a description of 
the discussion that occurred, and copies of all statements 
filed. Subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 
the minutes and records of all meetings and other docu-
ments that were made available to or prepared for the Ad-
visory Panel shall be available for public inspection and 
copying at a single location in the partnership program 
office. 
(4) The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
App.) does not apply to the Advisory Panel.
(e) FUNDING.—The chair and vice chairs of the Com-
mittee annually shall make funds available to support the 
activities of the Advisory Panel. 
SEC. 805. MARINE ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH. 
(a) ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES.—The Admin-
istrator shall work with the Committee to identify research 
efforts for improving ecosystem-based management efforts 
to protect, maintain, and restore marine ecosystem health 
while accommodating human use and occupancy. 
(b) MARINE BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH PROGRAM.—
As part of this effort, the Administrator, in cooperation 
with the Office of Naval Research, the National Science 
Foundation, the Department of Energy, and other Federal 
agencies represented on the Committee, shall establish and 
maintain a ten-year interagency research program to as-
sess and explain the diversity, conservation, distribution, 
functions, and abundance of marine organisms in the 
world’s oceans for the purposes of—
(1) understanding the patterns, causes, proc-
esses, and consequences of changing marine biologi-
cal diversity; 
(2) improving the linkages between marine eco-
logical and oceanographic sciences and guiding eco-
system-based management efforts, so as to protect, 
maintain, and restore marine ecosystem health;