Funding for the first meeting of the PMEP was provided to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Assistance in designing and carrying out the meeting was provided to PSMFC by a "planning committee" consisting of representatives from NMFS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), State of Washington, State of Alaska, The Nature Conservancy, and the Pacific Coast Joint Venture.
Forty-five (45) people were in attendance from a diversity of federal, tribal, state, trade, and non-governmental organizations (see final roster). Due to travel restrictions there were no state agency representatives from California in attendance and there were other areas of under-representation due to scheduling conflicts.
The goals of the meeting were to:
1. Further develop and refine the partnership - clearly establish its relevance and purpose.
2. Determine the partnership's niche - answer: "How can this new partnership aid other ongoing partnership efforts?" "What can it accomplish that others cannot?"
3. Develop a mission statement with goals and objectives that articulate the breadth and scope of the partnership.
4. Review completed broad-scale scientific assessments that will likely contribute towards identifying critical marine and estuarine areasto focus conservation and restoration efforts.
5. Define the geographic scope for the fish habitat partnerships.
6. Define the priority needs for initial work.
7. Establish organizational and governance structure for the partnership.
Progress was made on all goals except goal 6, which it was determined would be subsequent work to be decided by the group and its steering committee.
The final meeting agenda is attached here. This is also where you will find links to meeting presentations, notes and updated documents, including:
- the pre-meeting survey
- presentations on the purpose and objective of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan and the role of the Fish Habitat Partnership groups in helping achieve the plan's goals.
- presentations on the organization and goals of two fish habitat partnerships and the Pacific Coast Joint Venture
- presentations on Pacific Coast fish habitat assessments that are being or have been completed
- notes from the meeting's breakout sessions regarding goals and priorities
- polling results regarding geographic scope of the partnership
- draft bylaws and structure
Participants at the meeting volunteered to serve on an interim steering committee which will take the next steps, with a meeting to be scheduled in the near future (July - October). Financial help for allowing such follow-up work and rhe hiring of a coordinator, has been pledged by both National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Last Modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2010 14:23:51 PDT