NOAA ESTABLISHES HYDROGRAPHIC SERVICES FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
15-Member Hydrographic Services Review Panel Appointed

Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the appointment of 15 members to the Hydrographic Services Review Panel. The panel will function in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and advise the NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, ret. Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, on matters related to NOAA’s hydrographic and navigation services. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In October 2003, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans established the Hydrographic Services Review Panel as directed by the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 2002, Public Law 107-372. Accordingly, NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher appointed 15 members to the panel, five each of whom will serve a 2-year, 3-year, or 4-year termSubsequent appointees will serve 4-year terms.

NOAA provides a variety of navigation services necessary to ensure safe and efficient marine transportation and commerce, naval operations and recreational activities. These include nautical charts, hydrographic surveys, shoreline maps, positioning capabilities, marine weather forecasts, and real-time water level data. The U.S. Marine Transportation System, a primary customer of NOAA navigation services, is a cornerstone of the U.S. economy responsible for 95 percent of all goods, by volume, entering and leaving the United States.

The panel's duties will include providing advice and recommendations to the under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere on hydrographic surveying; nautical charting; water level and current measurements; geodetic measurements; shoreline mapping; and technologies relating to operations, research and development, and dissemination of data. The panel will assist in addressing NOAA’s strategic plan to improve the nation's marine transportation system and NOAA’s plans to support commerce with world-class products and services that will help ensure safe, efficient and environmentally sound marine transportation.

The Hydrographic Services Review Panel is composed of a diverse field of experts in hydrographic surveying, vessel pilotage, port administration, tides and currents, coastal zone management, geodesy, recreational boating, marine transportation, and academia. Captain Roger L. Parsons, director of the NOAA National Ocean Service Office of Coast Survey, will serve as the committee’s designated federal official. The directors of the NOAA/University of New Hampshire Joint Hydrographic Center, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey, (NGS) and NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) will serve as nonvoting members.

The 15 members of the Hydrographic Services Review Panel are:

NOAA National Ocean Service is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation’ s coasts and oceansThe National Ocean Service balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats, and mitigating coastal hazards.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through research to better understand weather and climate-related events and to manage wisely the nation's coastal and marine resources.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

NOAA National Ocean Service: http://www.oceanservice.noaa.gov

Office of Coast Survey: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/