The Program Management Committee

 

 

The interagency Program Management Committee (PMC) for the Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Program consists of scientific representatives of the state and federal agencies having environmental regulatory responsibilities and/or scientific interest in this part of the South Florida coastal marine ecosystem.  The PMC is charged with providing policy makers reliable scientific information and science-based recommendations including timely evaluation of the effects different upstream management alternatives might have upon the ecosystem within and adjacent to Florida Bay.

 

The PMC was formed in 1994 based on a recommendation made to the agencies by a panel convened to examine agencies' plans and procedures in regard to Florida Bay.  Since that time, the PMC has overseen the interagency Florida Bay Science Program and has recently expanded to assure coordination and collaboration with developing science programs in Biscayne Bay, the Southwest Florida Shelf (including Rookery Bay), and the Florida Keys coastal waters in so far as they are germane to South Florida ecosystem restoration.  To accomplish its objectives the PMC:

 

1.      developed a Strategic Science Plan for Florida Bay to guide individual agency implementation plans and to prioritize allocation of resources;

2.      established a Florida Bay Science Oversight Panel composed of distinguished, knowledgeable but financial disinterested scientists from outside this region. This Panel is asked to attend the Annual Science Conference, to chair or participate in topical workshops that require technical panel input and to recommend to the PMC any changes in the science program to assure it is meeting the requirements of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Process;

3.      established an administrative infrastructure consisting of an Executive Officer and an Florida Bay Education Project Office;

4.      established research teams consisting of funded investigators and interested experts to review and integrate plans and sampling protocols of related projects including data management;

5.      sponsors an annual Science Conference in which all funded investigator teams in all the various agencies are required to participate;

6.      sponsors topical workshops on critical scientific issues;

7.      evaluates individual agency implementation plans to avoid redundancy, assures maximum complementarity and makes best use of the technical and financial resources being made available for these science activities.