§1447b Regional Marine Research Boards

Summary

Establish a Regional Marine Research Board for each of nine coastal regions: Gulf of Maine; greater New York bight; mid‑Atlantic; South Atlantic (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands); Gulf of Mexico; California; North Pacific; Alaska; and insular Pacific (Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands). Each Board must have 11 members. Three are appointed by the NOAA Administrator (one must be a Sea Grant Program Director from a State in the region and will chair the board), two by the EPA Administrator, and six by the Governors of States in the region. Members must have relevant expertise, and a majority must be trained marine or aquatic scientists actively doing research or research administration. Terms are 4 years. Vacancies are filled the same way and replacements serve the rest of the term. Members may be paid travel and per diem under section 5703 of title 5. Each Board must prepare and send a regional marine research plan to NOAA and EPA that meets section 1447c. Boards must coordinate research, get review and comment from affected users (like fishing industries, marine businesses, governments, and environmental groups), ensure research quality, and send periodic reports to Congress under section 1447e. Boards may work with federal, state, local, interstate, nonprofit, and foreign partners; make contracts, grants, and agreements; publish and share research results; hold conferences; use federal labs and staff; accept outside funds and donations; and acquire patents or property rights. Each Board sets its own rules, may form committees, and may hire staff. Each Board ends on October 1, 1999, unless Congress extends it.