Water > Ocean Acidification > Panel

Ocean Acidification Blue Ribbon Panel

In December 2011, Governor Gregoire convened a Blue Ribbon Panel of leading tribal, state, federal and local policy makers; scientific experts; public opinion leaders; and industry representatives.

The Blue Ribbon Panel has focussed on documenting the current state of scientific knowledge, ways to advance our scientific understanding of the effects of ocean acidification, and recommend actions to respond to increasing ocean acidification, reduce harmful effects on Washington’s shellfish and other marine resources, and adapt to the impacts of acidified waters.

The Panel will submit the report to the Governor on November 27, 2012.

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Panel Members

Panel Co-Chairs:

William D. Ruckelshaus — Madrona Venture Group
Jay Manning — Cascadia Law Group

Members:

Lisa Ayers — Pacific County Commissioner
Brian Blake — State Representative
Steven Bloomfield — Mason County Commissioner
Shallin Busch — NOAA, Ocean Acidification Laboratory
Chris Davis — The Nature Conservancy
Bill Dewey — Taylor Shellfish Company
Norm Dicks — Congressman
Richard A. Feely — NOAA, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Carolyn Friedman — UW, School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences
Peter Goldmark — Commissioner of Public Lands
Sara Kendall — Weyerhaeuser Company
Terrie Klinger — UW, School of Marine & Environmental Affairs
Micah McCarty — Makah Tribe
Dennis J. McLerran — EPA Region 10
Edward Miles — UW, Center for Science and Earth System
Jan Newton — UW, Applied Physics Laboratory
Betsy Peabody — Pacific Shellfish Institute and Puget Sound Restoration Fund
Kevin Ranker — State Senator
Jennifer Ruesink — UW, Department of Biology
Ron Sims — Leadership Council, Puget Sound Partnership
Norma Smith — State Representative
Dan Swecker — State Senator
Ted Sturdevant — Department of Ecology
George Waldbusser — OSU, College of Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences
Brad Warren — Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Terry Williams — Tulalip Tribes

Panel Documents

• Charter (PDF)
• National Shellfish initiative
• Washington Shellfish Initiative
• Support letter from NOAA Administrator (PDF)

Resources

• See Ocean Acidification in the Climate Impacts Clearinghouse
• Why Ocean Acidification Matters to California, Center for Ocean Solutions (PDF, March 2012)

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Funding Entities

The Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification is funded directly and indirectly from multiple public and private sources:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Rockefeller Brothers Funds
Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
The Bullitt Foundation
The Ocean Conservancy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
University of Washington Climate Impacts Group
University of Washington College of the Environment
Washington Department of Ecology
Washington Department of Natural Resources
Washington Sea Grant

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Past Meetings & Events

The Panel will submit the report to the Governor on November 27, 2012.

October 12, 2012 (in Seattle and by Webinar)

• Meeting summary
• Watch the webinar (on YouTube, edited to reduce the length)
• Agenda 
• Presentations:
  1. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Welcome and Expectations for the Day (381 KB)
  2. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Report Overview (286 KB)
  3. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG and Hedia Adelsman, Washington Dept. of Ecology
     Panel Recommendations by Chapter:
     • Carbon dioxide emissions (76 KB)
     • Local nutrient and organic carbon contributions (97 KB)
     • Adaptation and remediation (110 KB)
     • Research and monitoring (79 KB)
     • Public education and outreach (74 KB)
     • Post-Panel coordination (74 KB)
  4. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Next Steps (96 KB)

The Panel expects to deliver its final recommendations to the Governor on November 27, 2012.

August 8, 2012 (in Seattle and by Webinar)

• Meeting summary
• Watch the webinar (on YouTube, edited to reduce the length)
• Agenda
• Presentations:
  1. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Welcome and Expectations for the Day (799 KB)
  2. Hedia Adelsman, Washington Dept. of Ecology; Julia Roberson, Ocean Conservancy; Lisa Dropkin, Edge Research
     Draft Final Report (277 KB) and Communications Update (164 KB)
  3. Workgroup Leads
     Draft Priority Action Recommendations (371 KB)
  4. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Next Steps (75 KB)
• Panel members continue discussion and prioritization of final recommendations for the report (if not reached during the July meeting)

July 20, 2012 (in Seattle and by Webinar)

• Watch the webinar (on YouTube, edited to reduce the length)
• Agenda
• Presentations:
  1. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Expectations for the Day and Updates (850KB)
  2. Jan Newton, UW Applied Physics Laboratory and Shallin Busch, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center
     Recommendations for Research and Monitoring (33 KB)
  3. Ted Sturdevant, Washington Dept. of Ecology
     Recommendations for Local Source Reduction (65 KB)
  4. Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
     Recommendations for Adaption and Remediation (32 KB)
  5. Betsy Peabody, Pacific Shellfish Institute and Puget Sound Restoration Fund
     Recommendations for Public Education and Outreach (38 KB)
• Panel members continue discussing and reach agreement on final prioritized recommendations.

June 20, 2012 (in Seattle and by Webinar)

• Watch the webinar (on YouTube, edited to reduce the length)
• Meeting summary
• Agenda
• Presentations:
  1. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Expectations for the Day (231KB PDF)
  2. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG (facilitating)
     Updates (217KB PDF)
  3. Jan Newton, UW Applied Physics Laboratory and Terrie Klinger, UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
     Initial Recommendations for Research and Monitoring
  4. Hedia Adelsman, Dept. of Ecology
     Initial Recommendations for Local Source Reduction (1MB PDF)
  5. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Initial Recommendations for Managing and Adapting to the Impacts of Ocean Acidification (451KB PDF)
  6. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG
     Cross-Cutting Initial Recommendations (448KB PDF)
• Purpose: Panel members review and discuss initial recommendations for research and monitoring, local source reduction, and managing and adapting to the impacts of ocean acidification.

May 23, 2012 (in Seattle and online by Webinar)

• Watch the webinar (on YouTube, edited to reduce the length)
• Meeting summary
• Work Plan Summary (timeline)
• Presentations:
  1. Lara Whitely Binder, UW Climate Impacts Group
     Welcome and Overview of the Day (200KB PDF)
  2. Richard Feely, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory; Jan Newton, UW Applied Physics Laboratory; Terrie Klinger, UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs; and Meg Chadsey, Washington Sea Grant
     • Draft Key Findings from the Science Summary (5.4MB PDF)
     • Video clip — goes with slide #9 (MOV format)
  3. Julia Roberson, Ocean Conservancy; Lisa Dropkin, Edge Research;
     Ocean Acidification: Findings from Opinion Research in the U.S. (1MB PDF)
  4. Sandy Howard and Hedia Adelsman, Dept. of Ecology
     Draft Communication Plan for Ocean Acidification Panel (1.4MB PDF)
  5. Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
     Update on SFP’s Technical Paper on the Science of Response Strategies (4MB PDF)
  6. Ryan Kelly, Center for Ocean Solutions
     Update: Policy Tools for Combating Ocean Acidification (1MB PDF)
  7. Lara Whitely Binder, UW Climate Impacts Group
     Existing OA Recommendations (330KB PDF)
  8. Josh Baldi, Washington Department of Ecology
     The Washington Shellfish Initiative (1MB PDF)
  9. Lara Whitely Binder, UW CIG and Meg Chadsey, WA Sea Grant
     Updates and Next Steps (250KB PDF)
• Agenda

April 25, 2012 (webinar)

• Meeting Summary
• Watch the webinar (2 hours, on YouTube)
• Presentations:
  1. Jan Newton, University of Washington
     Monitoring Capabilities in WA for Ocean Acidification (11MB, PDF)
  2. Christopher Krembs, WA Dept. of Ecology
     Review of Current Marine and Related Monitoring Programs in Washington (8MB, PDF)
  3. Ed Miles, UW CIG (oral comments only)
  4. John Stein, NOAA NWFSC
     Review of Federal Efforts to Address Ocean Acidification (2.4MB, PDF)
  5. Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
     Proposal to Commission Science & Policy Paper: Options for Managing OA Risk in Washington (5MB, PDF)
  6. Ryan Kelly, Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University
     Overview of Policy Tools for Ocean Acidification (PDF)
  7. Lara Whitely Binder, UW Climate Impacts Group
     Logistical Updates (PDF)
     (Note: oral updates on the science summary provided by Meg Chadsey, WA Sea Grant, and on the communications strategy, Hedia Adelsman, WA Dept. of Ecology)
• Related Meeting Materials
  1. Memo on the Center for Biological Diversity litigation (PDF) - written by Ryan Kelly at the Center for Ocean Solutions for panel members. This litigation was briefly discussed during the webinar.
  2. Summary work plan (PDF) – provides a one-page summary timeline (formatted for legal size paper) of the key tasks in the Panel process
  meetingsummary
  3. Public comments from April 25th webinar (PDF) – list of public comments submitted via the chat box during the April 25th webinar or by email from members of the public.
• Agenda (PDF)

March 30, 2012 (Seattle)

• Meeting Summary (PDF)
• Presentations:
  
  1. Bill Dewey, Taylor Shellfish
     The Canary in the Coal Mine: A Cautionary Tale of Ocean Acidification and Shellfish (PDF, 2.5 MB)
  2. Simone Alin, NOAA PMEL
     Update on Ocean Acidification Science (PDF, 12 MB)
     > Historical and Future Trajectory of Aragonite Saturation, video from slide 13 (Quicktime/MOV format)
  3. Shallin Busch, NOAA NWFSC and Jennifer Ruesink, UW Dept. of Biology
     Update on the Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification (PDF, 13 MB)
     > Shelled pteropods: planktonic snails, video from slide 13 (Quicktime/MOV format)
     > Why focus on larvae and juveniles?, video from slide 15 (AVI format)
  4. Lara Whitely Binder, UW Climate Impacts Group (CIG)
     Looking Ahead: Future Meetings, Scoping of Tasks, and Other Matters (PDF, 0.7 MB)
  (Note: you may need to install a video player to see the video files linked above.)
• Agenda (PDF)