 |
Census of Marine Life |
|
(CoML) An international
research program assessing and explaining |
Census of Marine Life
(CoML)
An international research program assessing and explaining
the diversity, distribution and abundance of
marine organisms throughout the world's oceans.
| Program Summaries in: | English | French | Spanish | Japanese (under construction) |
WHAT'S NEW:
The FY 2002 NOPP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA 01-029 for the Ocean Biogeographic Information System) was printed in Congressional Business Daily on 9/28/01. Deadline 12/18/01.
Additional Speeches, Papers & Reports
(including materials on Museums and Marine Laboratories)
For further information, contact:
- Cynthia Decker, Associate Director, Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), e-mail: cdecker@COREocean.org
Secretariat, CoML, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, #800, Washington, DC 20036
ph: 202-332-0063, fax: 202-332-9751
Background
The Census of Marine Life (CoML) is conceived as a decade-long program to promote and fund research assessing and explaining the diversity, distribution, and abundance of species in the world oceans. Related activities integral to this research include the design and implementation of standard databases for marine species in collaboration with other international efforts launched recently, and the design and implementation of innovative biological sampling techniques for the marine environment. Outreach and education efforts will help inform the public about the CoML's potential and actual contributions to knowledge, and help tune the program to the concerns and priorities of governments, commercial and recreational fishers, environmental groups, the research community, and other stakeholders in the oceans.
Consultations and workshops during 1997-1998, largely funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (New York City), explored the potential benefits, issues (technical, scientific, and social), and limits of a Marine Census. Experts participated from biological and physical oceanography, marine technology, ecology, and other fields. Meetings on the feasibility and value of the Census were held under a range of auspices, including the U.S. National Research Council, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas/Southampton Oceanography Centre, Environmental Defense Fund, and Ocean Trust. The conversations have resulted in a broad set of precepts for the Census of Marine Life, which now make possible the preparation of a more specific statement of goals and a scientific plan to achieve them. A report on the goals and plan for the Census of Marine Life is now under development and should be issued early in 2001.
The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), comprised of 63 institutions in the United States, including universities, government laboratories, and non-profit aquaria, agreed in June 1999 to establish and host the International Steering Committee for the Census of Marine Life and the Secretariat, which the Steering Committee guides.
Based in Washington DC, the goal of CORE is to promote, encourage, develop, and support efforts to advance knowledge and learning in the science of oceanography and to disseminate such knowledge to the scientific community and to the public. CORE also acts as the Program Office for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, a legislatively-mandated collaboration of fourteen US government agencies established to promote cooperative activities among government, academia, and industry for the advancement of ocean science, technology and education. NOPP has indicated interest in the CoML and has agreed to work with the Sloan Foundation to identify and partially fund, if possible, through its current and additional calls for proposals, specific studies that are relevant to the common research interests and goals of the CoML and the US oceanographic agencies.
The initial primary goal of the international Steering Committee is to foster the development of coherent goals and a scientific plan for the CoML. The Steering Committee will carry out this task through workshops, working groups, and other appropriate processes and means. The Steering Committee will also oversee the development of the education and outreach plan and its implementation.
For more information on the Census of Marine Life, please explore this web page or contact the individuals listed above.