In response to the Department of Commerce Inspector General’s January report of on NOAA’s enforcement activities, NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco called for a National Enforcement Summit, to bring together stakeholders from the commercial and recreational fishing industries, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal enforcement officials, and experts. The facilitated one-day meeting will feature speakers who will present new thoughts on management tools used to promote enforcement consistency, transparency, and communications, as well as improving the process for setting enforcement priorities. The summit will be held on Tuesday, August 3, in Washington, D.C.
This pre-summit media teleconference will allow NOAA to discuss the purpose of the summit, who will be there, what the topics are, what NOAA hopes to accomplish and other summit-specific questions. Media are encouraged to check out the summit website , before Monday’s teleconference Monday.
WHAT: Media availability prior to NOAA’s National Enforcement Summit
WHO: Eric Schwaab, NOAA assistant administrator for fisheries and Alan Risenhoover, acting director, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement
WHEN: Monday, Aug. 2, 11 a.m. EDT
HOW: Request the call-in number and passcode by calling 301-713-2370 before 5 p.m. EDT Friday, or between 8 and 10 a.m. EDT on Monday.
BACKGROUND: More than 60 invited participants, plus representatives of NOAA leadership and staff, will participate in the one-day working summit. Participants were selected based upon their expertise in the issue and experience with natural resource management and regulation at the federal, state, and local levels, and represent a wide cross-section of people from regulated communities and non-governmental organizations.
The summit will be webcast live and videotaped for future reference. A summary of the event and after-action items will be posted to the website soon after the summit.
To develop the summit design, NOAA solicited advice and input from experienced public and private sector parties who interact with NOAA’s enforcement program as members of regulated communities and stakeholders as well as those who have broad experience with state and federal enforcement programs. Through the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, NOAA retained Susan Podziba, public policy mediator at Susan Podziba & Associates, to assist in the design and facilitation of the summit. An overview of the assessment interviews can be found by clicking here.