The Florida Bay Science Oversight Panel

 

Integral to the implementation of the Florida Bay Research Program is independent expert review.  This need has been served by the Florida Bay Science Oversight Panel and is defined in the original 1994 interagency science plan. That plan defined the Panel's role as providing regular, broad, technical and management review of agency plans, of PMC strategies for program development, of the scientific quality of research, modeling and monitoring, and of research results and inferences. The Panel consists of seven senior scientists with significant experience in major estuarine restoration programs but without involvement in Florida Bay projects. The Panel participates in annual conferences by formally leading question and answer sessions and by providing written reports to the PMC presenting critical review and recommendations for advancing the program.

 

Additionally, the Panel has, at the request of the PMC, arranged for ad hoc advisory panels of experts in specialized subject areas to participate in technical workshops where critical research issues and questions are addressed. These workshops also lead to written recommendations that the PMC accepts as guidance in coordinating the interagency program as described above. To date, substantive workshops have included: Circulation Model (April 17-18, 1996), Nutrients (July 1-2, 1996), Water Quality Model (October 22-24, 1996), Higher Trophic Level Initiative (November 4-5, 1997),  Seagrass Model (January 13-14, 1998), Paleoecology and Ecosystem History (January 22-23, 1998) and Model Integration (May 11, 1998).   

 

Other workshops sponsored by the PMC but not having ad hoc advisory panels include Hurricane Georges Retrospective (November 20, 1998), Florida Bay Salinity Models (August 30-31, 1999), and Florida Bay Water Quality Model (September 13, 1999).