Contact:  Scott Smullen                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                       5/7/97

Known as the National Marine Fisheries Service Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel, the group will study how marine ecosystem research is conducted, and advise how the results of that research can and should be used to improve management of marine resources. Panel members include state, federal, and academic marine scientists and representatives of the fishing industry, conservation organizations and the regional fishery management councils. The group will first meet in August 1997.

"The reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act is very forward-looking in recognizing the need for an ecosystem approach to fisheries research and management. This advisory panel will give us a better picture of ongoing marine ecosystem research and tell us what needs to be accomplished in the future to make fisheries management more effective," said Bill Fox, director of the fisheries service's Office of Science and Technology.

An ecosystem management approach encourages fisheries resources to be viewed as part of an interconnected community of living things, including humans, and the physical environment with which they interact. Many of the complex interactions in marine ecosystems are poorly understood, and will require additional research.

The panel will advise the fisheries service through a report to Congress due October 1998, which will include: (1) an analysis of the extent to which ecosystem principles are being applied in fishery conservation and management activities, including research activities; and (2) proposed actions by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Congress that should be undertaken to expand the application of ecosystem principles in fishery conservation and management. The panel was established pursuant to Section 406 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Nominations for panel members were solicited from states, regional fishery management councils, the fishing industry, conservation organizations, and other stakeholder groups in addition to the National Academy of Sciences. From those nominees, the fisheries service selected panelists who represent diverse research and management experience as well as different geographic perspectives.

The National Marine Fisheries Service Ecosystem Advisory Panel members are:

Pete Aparicio, Texas Shrimpers Association/Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
Chris Blackburn, Alaska Groundfish Data Bank
George Boehlert, NMFS-Pacific Fisheries Environment Group
Felicia Coleman, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council/Florida State University
Philip Conkling, The Island Institute
Robert Costanza, University of Maryland
Paul Dayton, University of California, San Diego--Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dave Fluharty, North Pacific Fishery Management Council/University of Washington
Robert Francis, University of Washington
Doyle Hanan, California Department of Fish and Game
Ken Hinman, National Coalition for Marine Conservation
Ed Houde, University of Maryland
James Kitchell, University of Wisconsin
Rich Langton, Maine Department of Marine Resources
Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University
Marc Mangel, University of California at Santa Cruz
Russell Nelson, Florida Marine Fisheries Commission/Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils
Victoria O'Connell, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Michael Orbach, Duke University
Michael Sissenwine, NMFS--Northeast Fisheries Science Center
For more information about the panel and its mission, contact Dr. Ned Cyr, Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.