GCRL site for ocean policy task force

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory will serve as one of four satellite access sites for a video conference by a federal task force charged with helping recommend a national policy on oceans, coasts and Great Lakes issues. The meeting of the Gulf Coast Regional Ocean Policy Task Force is Monday from 3:30 to 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. Other satellite locations are at Dauphin Island, Ala.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and St. Petersburg, Fla. The group will hold six meetings across the United States before drafting an ocean policy plan by December. An interim report last month noted the need to address issues such as overfishing, wetlands loss and nutrient pollution in rivers that leads to problems such as the Gulf of Mexico's perennial "dead zone." (Sources: Mississippi Press, 10/18/09; New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/16/09)