    [Senate Hearing 116-131]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 116-131

                               OUR BLUE ECONOMY:
                          SUCCESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   before the

                             COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                          SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                 MARCH 27, 2019

                                   __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
                                 Transportation

     [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                    Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov

                                   __________

                       U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

     55-142 PDF                WASHINGTON : 2024

           SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                      ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman
    JOHN THUNE, South Dakota             MARIA CANTWELL, Washington,
    ROY BLUNT, Missouri                      Ranking
    TED CRUZ, Texas                      AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    DEB FISCHER, Nebraska                RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
    JERRY MORAN, Kansas                  BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
    DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska                 EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
    CORY GARDNER, Colorado               TOM UDALL, New Mexico
    MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          GARY PETERS, Michigan
    SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia  TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
    MIKE LEE, Utah                       TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin               JON TESTER, Montana
    TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
    RICK SCOTT, Florida                  JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
                           John Keast, Staff Director
                      Crystal Tully, Deputy Staff Director
                          Steven Wall, General Counsel
                     Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
                  Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
                          Renae Black, Senior Counsel

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page
    Hearing held on March 27, 2019...................................     1
    Statement of Senator Wicker......................................     1
    Statement of Senator Cantwell....................................     3
    Statement of Senator Scott.......................................    80
    Statement of Senator Peters......................................    81
    Statement of Senator Blackburn...................................    84
    Statement of Senator Cruz........................................    87
    Statement of Senator Blumenthal..................................    90

                                   Witnesses

    Hon. Phil Bryant, Governor, State of Mississippi.................     4
        Prepared statement...........................................     6
    Michael J. Conathan, Executive Director, Aspen High Seas
      Initiative, The Aspen Institute................................    59
        Prepared statement...........................................    61
    Scott Deal, President and Founder, Maverick Boat Group...........    72
        Prepared statement...........................................    74

                                    Appendix

    Response to written question submitted by Hon. John Thune to
      Scott Deal.....................................................    93

                               OUR BLUE ECONOMY:
                          SUCCESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES

                                  ----------

                           WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2019

                                           U.S. Senate,
            Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room
    SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Roger Wicker,
    Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
        Present: Senators Wicker [presiding], Cruz, Blackburn,
    Cantwell, Blumenthal, Scott, and Peters.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROGER WICKER,
                     U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI

        Senator Wicker. This hearing of the Senate Committee on
    Commerce, Science, and Transportation will come to order.
        This is our hearing on ``Our Blue Economy: Successes and
    Opportunities.''
        Glad to be here today with my colleague and friend, Ranking
    Member Cantwell, to discuss the topic of a Blue Economy. This
    is an issue that is vitally important to her state and my state
    and to the rest of the United States.
        I'm particularly pleased to have this panel of witnesses
    today, including my dear friend of a number of decades,
    Governor Phil Bryant of Mississippi. He and I began our service
    together as state legislators back in the early 1990s. He has
    served as state auditor since then, lieutenant Governor, and as
    now in his eighth year as Governor of Mississippi. So, Phil, we
    are delighted to have you here and thank you for your public
    service.
        We're also joined by Mr. Scott Deal, President and CEO of
    Maverick Boats. Mr. Deal has not only built one of the premier
    boat companies in the world, he's been recognized for his
    leadership in marine conservation efforts.
        And also we welcome Mr. Michael Conathan, Executive
    Director of the Aspen Institute's High Seas Initiative. He's a
    former staff member of the Commerce Committee under our friend
    and former colleague, Senator Snowe.
        The impact of the oceans on our economy is everywhere. In
    Mississippi, we move 25 million tons of goods through the Port
    of Gulfport every year and those goods end up throughout the
    Nation and the world. A hurricane that hits the Gulf Coast can
    have a crippling effect on energy prices, delayed freight, and
    economic damage throughout the country.
        I recently spent two nights in Seattle, the home state of
    my colleague and Ranking Member, and it was wonderful and
    impressive to look out over the Puget Sound and see all of that
    commerce moving through there and it just continues to grow.
        In the last Congress, my colleagues and I worked to grow
    the Blue Economy by leading the Modern Fish Act and the
    Commercial Engagement Through Ocean Technology Act or CENOTE,
    both of which were enacted into law and signed by the
    President.
        Today, we will ask all of our witnesses to address what the
    Federal Government can do to ensure our Federal waters work for
    all sectors that use them.
        Over the years, I've heard complaints from recreational
    fishermen about how they had been an afterthought for Federal
    fisheries managers. Our nation's fisheries law, the Magnuson-
    Stevens Act, was established to manage commercial fisheries.
    It's no surprise then that a management system designed for
    commercial activity did not work for recreational fishermen who
    want to spend more time on the water, not catch their quota as
    quickly as possible.
        The Modern Fish Act requires the National Oceanic and
    Atmospheric Administration to be more responsive to the needs
    of our recreational fisheries. It allows for the use of
    additional management tools, like extraction rates, fishing,
    mortality rates, and harvest control rules.
        We'll certainly be providing oversight to the
    Administration as they develop the ways to implement the Modern
    Fish Act.
        I hope Mr. Deal will address the Modern Fish Act and other
    issues important to recreational fishermen in his testimony and
    responses to questions.
        In addition, our oceans are woefully under-observed. That's
    why I've advocated for the strategic use of unmanned maritime
    systems. These systems are a cost-effective way to bring about
    a dramatic increase in the number of ocean observations NOAA
    obtains.
        Unmanned maritime systems serve a valuable role when the
    mission is too dangerous, dull, or dirty for human crews. For
    example, knowing the water temperature below the surface is
    critical for predicting how quickly a hurricane will intensify.
    Getting these measurements is a job for unmanned systems.
        The CENOTE Act encourages NOAA to think strategically and
    comprehensively about incorporating unmanned maritime systems.
        I hope Governor Bryant and our other witnesses will address
    how we can harness marine technology, particularly when it
    comes to oceans, observations, and data collection.
        Observations are also critically important for our Nation's
    increasingly busy ports where aging infrastructure and frequent
    changes in wind, tide level, and current make navigation a
    tricky business.
        I'd like to hear from our witnesses about what the Federal
    Government can do to provide ports with real-time information
    on weather and tides and to support the efficient movement of
    freight.
        We had some big successes last Congress and I can assure
    you this is a topic that is vitally interesting to this
    Chairman and this Ranking Member and we think there's more to
    do.
        I look forward to working with Senator Cantwell and the
    rest of the members of this committee as we to continue to
    develop legislation to advance the Blue Economy in the 116th
    Congress.
        So thank you to our witnesses, and I now turn to my friend
    and Ranking Member, Senator Cantwell, for her opening
    statement.

                   STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
                      U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON

        Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
    again for visiting the Pacific Northwest and seeing how
    important the Blue Economy is in many complex ways.
        Puget Sound is one of the busiest waterways in the Nation
    when you look at the amount of cargo, marine transportation
    system with our ferry system, and fishing and recreational
    activities. So it is a very busy waterway. So thank you for
    visiting.
        Governor, very good to have you here before the Committee.
    I look forward to visiting your state very soon. We've been
    visited by many people already from your state who are very
    interested in going back to the continuation of the Amtrak
    service from New Orleans all the way across to Mobile and we
    want to continue to work with the Chairman on that issue and
    many others.
        Mr. Conathan, very good to see you here again. Thank you
    for being here and for your work at the Aspen Institute and
    particularly for your global work on fisheries because I think
    that is a conversation we've had a little bit before the
    Committee and look forward to hearing your thoughts on that and
    some other specificity related to the U.S.
        And, Mr. Deal, thank you for representing the maritime
    shipbuilding industry. I am very interested in what the United
    States can do to continue to build our naval architecture and
    technology framework in shipbuilding.
        I think that the United States has many bright days ahead,
    particularly as we look at the opening of the Arctic as a way
    to move products and services to creating a shipbuilding fleet
    in the United States that can accommodate that. So I look
    forward to your comments.
        The ocean represents not just a maritime industry but our
    culture and our heritage. The Blue Economy supports 69,000 jobs
    and indirectly supports a 191,000 jobs in the state of
    Washington. So it is a very big part of our economy. It
    includes shipbuilding, trade, transportation, fisheries,
    tourism, and, as I mentioned, recreation.
        Our maritime economy is incredibly diverse, from the Ports
    of Seattle and Tacoma, which make up the fourth largest
    container gateway in North America, to the fifth generation
    shellfish growers at Hama Hama Oyster Company on Hood Canal.
    It's a pretty broad spectrum.
        Obviously our Northwest tribes, which we have 29 tribes,
    are also very involved in the fishing fleet of our Nation. So
    it is my pleasure to work with the Chairman on the diverse set
    of maritime issues that come before this committee.
        We must safeguard science-based fisheries management to
    protect fishing for generations to come and we need to restore
    habitats to support recreational and shellfish harvesting and
    tourism, so all of these are challenges every day.
        Last Sunday marked the 30th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez
    spill which resulted in 1,300 miles of pristine Alaska
    coastline being covered in oil. Billions of salmon eggs were
    destroyed and 30 years later, a stock of Pacific herring is
    nearly extinct. So we need to get these issues right and we
    need to continue to focus on protecting our environment.
        Oil spills aren't the only threat to the Blue Economy.
    Commercial, recreational, and Alaska Native fishermen have
    joined outfitters, tourism businesses, and the large seafood
    industry to voice their concerns about the proposed Pebble Mine
    and its impact on the livelihood of their communities.
        The Pebble Mine is a proposed large open pit mine in the
    headwaters of one of the most production salmon runs in the
    entire world. Half of the sockeye salmon on the planet comes
    from Bristol Bay. Last year, 60 million fish returned to
    Bristol Bay to support 14,000 jobs and yet the Administration
    is looking to fast forward a permit process for Pebble Mine
    which we think would reach very hazardous impacts if any kind
    of incident were to happen.
        That's why I have supported calls to extend the public
    comment period for the Army Corps of Engineers impact statement
    and I've called for additional public hearings so that
    fishermen can have their voices heard. Unfortunately, those
    calls have been unanswered as of yet, but I hope that we will
    get the Administration to understand that it is not worth
    damaging future generations of salmon run to put an open-pit
    gold mine there.
        The ocean economy also provides high-quality protein and
    countless riches and we need to continue, as I mentioned
    earlier, to do science-based management. My colleague mentioned
    the Magnuson-Stevens Act and I think the Pacific Northwest has
    probably done some of the best implementation of fisheries
    management in the entire world.
        We need to continue to move forward but doing so means that
    we have to have good resources for stock assessment, which we
    need to make the investment in these things so that we can
    propose those opportunities for the future.
        So I look forward to asking the witnesses questions on
    these important issues, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
    scheduling this hearing.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much, Senator Cantwell.
        We will now begin with five-minute testimonies by our three
    witnesses. Your entire statements will be accepted into the
    record and we ask as close as possible for you to limit your
    opening statement to five minutes.
        And I'm delighted to recognize Governor Bryant first.

               STATEMENT OF HON. PHIL BRYANT, GOVERNOR,
                          STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

        Mr. Bryant. Thank you, Senator Wicker.
        It is an honor to be here. I will do my best as a Governor
    to limit my comments to 5 minutes.
        Senator Cantwell, thank you for having us. Ranking Member,
    I will join, I'm sure, Senator Wicker in inviting you to come
    to the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast and I will look forward
    to coming back to your state. What a gorgeous state it is and
    how much I enjoyed my visits there.
        So we will begin by saying it's an honor and pleasure to
    appear before the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss one of
    my favorite topics, the Blue Economy.
        According to the Center for the Blue Economy, the term has
    three related and distinct meanings. First, the overall
    contribution of the oceans to the economics of the world;
    second, the need to address the environmental and ecological
    sustainability of the oceans; and, finally, the ocean economy's
    growing opportunity for developed and developing nations.
        On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we have embraced the Blue
    Economy with all our energy and ingenuity. Above all other
    concerns, we care about our land, our air, and our water.
    They're a part of our heritage and a part of our community.
        Mississippians live, work, play, and learn on the beautiful
    waters of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The finest seafood in the
    world comes from these waters. This industry provides thousands
    of jobs along with high-quality and delicious fish, shrimp, and
    oysters.
        We work with the inspectors of the National Oceanic and
    Atmospheric Administration Seafood Inspection Services to
    ensure the safety and high quality of the seafood industry. We
    continue to grow this industry through research, innovation,
    and conservation practices.
        For example, the Mississippi Oyster Council was formed in
    2015. It has provided a detailed plan to reach our goal of a
    million sacks a year. The work of the Mississippi Department of
    Marine Resources enhances the opportunity to protect and grow
    the seafood industry in collaboration with our Federal partners
    in Congress, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the White House.
        Shipbuilding has long been a part of the Blue Economy on
    the Mississippi Gulf Coast. For 80 years, Huntington Ingalls
    has supplied the U.S. Navy and our allies with the most
    advanced warships in the world.
        Nearly 12,000 employees now work in the shipyard of the
    future in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Hundreds more work at VT
    Halter Marine and U.S. Marine, Incorporated. We like to say in
    Mississippi that if it floats and fights, more than likely it
    was built on the Gulf Coast.
        The Port of Gulfport, Port of Pascagoula, and Port of
    Bienville open the Gulf Coast and Mississippi to the world.
    These deepwater ports in Jackson and Harrison County continue
    to help increase exports by 259 percent in just the last 10
    years.
        The Port of Gulfport, which was totally destroyed by
    Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, has been completely
    restored and reopened officially in December 2018. It has been
    designated as a strategic seaport by the U.S. Department of
    Defense and is currently the third busiest container port in
    the Gulf of Mexico. The $570 million restoration after Katrina
    has been closely monitored by HUD since its conception.
        The port has met and exceeded all requirements and we
    believe it is a model of efficiency for future restoration
    projects. The port also houses the University of Southern
    Mississippi's Marine Resource Center and plans to construct an
    ocean enterprise center in conjunction with the U.S. Navy and
    NOAA.
        These plans are currently underway in order to meet the
    requirements of the CENOTE Act. As you know, the Act encourages
    NOAA to partner with the Secretary of Navy on unmanned maritime
    systems technology. At the Port of Gulfport, we have engaged
    private, academic, and public sectors to achieve this goal.
        Keesler Air Force Base, located in the City of Biloxi, is
    headquarters to the 2nd Air Force, the 81st Training Wing of
    Air Education, the training command of 403 Wing of the Air
    Force Reserve, and the 85th Engineering Installation Squadron.
        Since 1941, Keesler has trained some of the finest pilots
    in the Air Force, to include the Tuskegee Airmen. Today, the
    base is home to 11,000 civilian and military personnel who
    serve in a variety of duties, including the 53rd Weather
    Reconnaissance Squadron, known affectionately to us as ``The
    Hurricane Hunters.''
        Now I like to describe the Blue Economy as being the top of
    the sky to the bottom of the ocean. No one knows the sky better
    than NASA. The John S. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County,
    Mississippi, has tested the propulsion systems for every
    spacecraft since Apollo.
        Today, SpaceX and Aerojet Rocketdyne test their deep space
    propulsion systems at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.
    Man may go to Mars 1 day and return safely to earth, but he's
    going to have to pass through Hancock County to get there.
        Mr. Chairman, my limited time will not allow me to present
    all the exciting projects and benefits of the Blue Economy. If
    time permitted, I would be delighted to tell you about a world-
    class aquarium now under construction in Gulfport or the
    creation of the National Oceanographic Application Research
    Center, how we're restoring the Gulf after the disaster of the
    Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and funding from the RESTORE Act
    has saved hundreds of miles of living shoreline and marine life
    and the habitats and their habitats along the Mississippi Gulf
    Coast.
        I would brag on the Naval Construction Battalion Center in
    Gulfport and the great work of the two Coast Guard stations in
    Gulfport and Pascagoula, but it seems I've run out of time.
        I'm extremely grateful to speak before you today and look
    forward to my fellow presenters' statements and answering any
    questions you may have, and I request, Mr. Chairman, that you
    include the following two reports into the record, the
    Mississippi Defense Initiative Strategic Plan and the Ocean
    Task Force Report.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Bryant follows:]

     Prepared Statement of Hon. Phil Bryant, Governor, State of Mississippi
    Blue Economy
        Thank you, Senator Wicker. It is an honor and pleasure to appear
    before the Senate commerce committee to discuss one of my favorite
    topics, the Blue Economy.
        According to the Center for the Blue Economy, the term has three
    related but distinct meanings: first, the overall contribution of the
    oceans to economics; second, the need to address the environmental and
    ecological sustainability of the oceans; and finally, the ocean economy
    as a growth opportunity for developed and developing countries.\1\ On
    the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we have embraced the Blue Economy with all
    our energy and ingenuity. Above all other concerns, we care about our
    land, air and water. They are part of our heritage and community.
    Mississippians live, work, play and learn on the beautiful waters of
    the Gulf Coast. The finest seafood in the world comes from these
    waters. This industry provides thousands of jobs \2\ along with high
    quality and delicious fish, shrimp and oysters. We work with the
    inspectors at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
    (NOAA) Seafood Inspection Services to ensure the safety and high
    standards of the seafood industry.\3\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-
    initiatives/center-blue-economy/about/history
        \2\ http://coastal.msstate.edu/economic-impact-seafood-mississippi
        \3\ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/9736
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        We continue to grow this industry through research, innovation and
    conservation practices. For example, the Mississippi Oyster Council,
    formed in 2015,\4\ has provided a detailed plan to reach our goal of a
    million sacks a year.\5\ The work of the Mississippi Department of
    Marine Resources enhances the opportunity to protect and grow the
    seafood industry in collaboration with our Federal partners in
    Congress, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and The White House.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \4\ http://www.dmr.state.ms.us/index.php/aquaculture-home/oyster-
    council
        \5\ http://www.dmr.state.ms.us/images/dmr/Oyster-Council-report-
    final.pdf
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Shipbuilding has long been a strong part of the Blue Economy on the
    Mississippi Gulf Coast. For over 80 years, Huntington-Ingalls has
    supplied the U.S. Navy and our allies with the most advanced warships
    in the world.\6\ Nearly 12,000 employees now work at the shipyard of
    the future in Pascagoula, Mississippi.\7\ Hundreds more work at V.T.
    Halter Marine and U.S. Marine.\8\ We like to say, ``if it floats and
    fights,'' it more than likely was built in Mississippi.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \6\ https://ingalls.huntingtoningalls.com/who-we-are/
        \7\ https://ingalls.huntingtoningalls.com/who-we-are/
        \8\ https://www.linkedin.com/company/vt-halter-marine/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The Port of Gulfport, Port of Pascagoula and Port Bienville open
    the Gulf Coast and Mississippi to the world. The deepwater ports in
    Jackson and Harrison counties have helped increase exports by 259
    percent in the last ten years.\9\ The Port of Gulfport, which was
    totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, has been
    completely restored and re-opened officially in December of 2018.\10\
    It has been designated as a strategic seaport by the U.S. Department of
    Defense \11\ and is currently the third busiest container port in the
    Gulf of Mexico.\12\ The $570 million restoration since Katrina has been
    closely monitored by H.U.D. since its conception.\13\ The port has met
    and exceeds all requirements, and we believe is a model of efficiency
    for future restoration projects. The port also houses the University of
    Southern Mississippi Marine Research Center, and plans to construct an
    Ocean Enterprise Center, in conjunction with the U.S. Navy and NOAA,
    are currently underway in order to meet the requirements of the CENOTE
    Act (Commercial Engagement Through Ocean Technology Act of 2018). As
    you know, the Act encourages NOAA to partner with the secretary of the
    Navy on unmanned maritime systems technology. At the Port of Gulfport,
    we have engaged private, academic and public sectors to achieve this
    goal.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \9\ MDA Powerpoint and Tammy Craft e-mail 12/4/18
        \10\ Jonathan Daniels e-mail 1/4/19
        \11\ http://shipmspa.com/port-of-gulfport-receives-strategic-
    seaport-designation/
        \12\ https://www.ms.gov/node/321
        \13\ http://shipmspa.com/restoration-celebration-ceremony/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Keesler Air Force Base, located in the City of Biloxi, is
    headquarters to Second Air Force, the 81st Training Wing of the Air
    Education and Training Command, the 403rd Wing of the Air Force
    Reserve, and the 85th Engineering Installation Squadron.\14\ Since
    1941, Keesler has trained some of the finest pilots in the air force,
    including the Tuskegee Airmen.\15\ Today, the base is home to some
    11,000 civilian and military personnel who serve in a variety of duties
    including the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known
    affectionately to us as ``Hurricane Hunters.'' \16\,\17\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \14\ https://www.keesler.af.mil/Units/
        \15\ http://www.keesler.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090203-
    089.pdf
        \16\ Mississippi Defense Initiative Strategic Plan 2019-2023
        \17\ https://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/
    Article/192529/53rd-weather-reconnaissance-squadron-hurricane-hunters/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I like to describe the Blue Economy as the top of the sky to the
    bottom of the ocean. No one knows the sky like NASA. The John C.
    Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, has tested the
    propulsion systems for every spacecraft since Apollo.\18\ Today, Space-
    X and Aerojet Rocketdyne test their deep space propulsion system at
    Stennis Space Center.\19\ Man may go to Mars one day and return safely
    to earth, but he will have to pass through Hancock County to get there.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \18\ https://www.space.com/39498-stennis-space-center.html
        \19\ https://aviationweek.com/awin/rolls-royce-selected-nasas-john-
    c-stennis-space-center-mississippi and http://www.wlox.com/story/
    23768172/spacex-signs-agreement-with-stennis-space-center/ and http://
    www.rocket.com/article/aerojet-rocketdyne-announces-expansion-nasas-
    stennis-space-center-mississippi
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Mr. Chairman, my limited time will not allow me to present all the
    exciting projects and benefits of our Blue Economy. If time permitted,
    I would be delighted to tell you about a world-class aquarium now under
    construction in Gulfport or the National Oceanographic Application
    Research Center; how we are restoring the Gulf after the disaster of
    the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill; and how funding from the Restore Act
    has saved hundreds of miles of living shoreline and marine life and
    their habitats in the Gulf of Mexico.
        I would brag on the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport
    and the great work of the two coast guard stations in Gulfport and
    Pascagoula, but it seems I have run out of time.
        I am extremely grateful to speak before you today and look forward
    to my fellow presenters' statements and answering any questions you may
    have. Thank you.

        Senator Wicker. Without objection, they'll be received.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    APPENDIX C: SUPPORTING COMPANIES, AGENCIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS
                                     ______

                                ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    GOTF CHAIR:
    Dr. Monty Graham, Director, School of Ocean Science and Technology, USM
    GOTF FOCUS GROUP LEADS:
    Education and Workforce: Dr. Mary Graham, President of MGCCC

    Engineering Capacity: RDML Ken Barbor, Director of Hydrographic
    Research Center, USM

    Advanced Development and Testing: Dr. John Dane III, Chairman, United
    States Marine, Inc.

    Applications: Robbie Ingram, CEO MS Enterprise for Technology, USM
    Accelerator Manager

    Economic Development: Brian Useforge, Economic Development Director, MS
    Power Company

    Policy and Ethics: Hon. Steven Palazzo, United States House of
    Representatives
    GOTF MEMBERS:
    Dr. Scott Alsobrooks, Vice President for Economic and Community
    Development, PRCC

    David Brannon, Executive Director, NOARC

    Dr. Gordon Cannon, Vice President for Research and Economic
    Development, USM

    Bill Cork, CEO, Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission

    Jonathan Daniels, CEO, Mississippi State Port Authority

    Colonel Paul Drake, Commander, Combat Readiness Training Center

    George Freeland, Executive Director, Jackson Economic Development
    Foundation

    Dr. Josh Gladden, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research, UM

    Bill Hessell, Executive Director, Harrison County Development
    Commission

    Guy Johnson, Vice President, Coast Electric Power Association

    Mark McAndrews, Port Director, Port of Pascagoula

    Glenn McCullough, Executive Director, MDA

    Jim McIngvale, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, Ingalls
    Ship Building

    Colonel Greg Michel (Ret.), Mississippi National Guard

    Jamie Miller, Executive Director, Mississippi Department of Marine
    Resources

    Dr. David Shaw, Vice President for Research and Economic Development,
    MSU
                                     ______

    SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS AND ADVISORS:

    Dr. Heather Annulis      Joe Graben               Bob McCummins
    Don Beckmeyer            Andrea Harrington        Dr. Robert Moorhead
    Laura Lee Burkett        Andrew Hinkebein         Stephanie Otts
    Dr. Shannon Campbell     Greg Hinkebein           Helmut Portman
    Thomas Chance            Laurie Jugan             Dr. LaDon Swann
    Rus Cook                 Hunter Lipscomb          Dr. Jerry Wiggert
    Dr. Cyndi Gaudet         Dr. Kelly Lucas

                               EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
        Governor Phil Bryant established, by Executive Order 1401 on June
    1, 2017, the Governor's Ocean Task Force (GOTF). The GOTF was expressly
    created to provide expertise for the development of a comprehensive
    economic development master plan to increase the maritime economy and
    the synergistic relationship between the military and the government
    assets positioned along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
        A key underpinning to this Master Plan is a need to support the
    U.S. Navy's requirement for competitive advantage in ocean science and
    technology development as directed by the Chief of Naval Operations
    through the Task Force Ocean (TFO). Mississippi's challenge is to
    leverage this national TFO plan in a way that benefits the growing
    maritime Blue Economy, including research, education and workforce
    growth. This Master Plan recognizes the strong history of Mississippi's
    place in the technological evolution of U.S. Naval warfare including
    shipbuilding, Naval Oceanography and Meteorology, and Special
    Operations. Mississippi has a unique opportunity to research, develop,
    test, advance, and homeport the Nation's next generation of unmanned
    maritime systems (UMS).
        The Master Plan recommends investing in advanced facilities that
    support engineering joint ventures for Public-Private Partnerships
    (P3s) to accelerate technology development in months or weeks instead
    of years; UMS operational range development for testing and integrating
    these systems; warehousing and depot facilities to support Maintenance
    and Repair Operations (MRO) on UMS; and a national UMS Policy Center.
        The Master Plan further identifies key areas of potential
    development that leverage the U.S. Navy's enormous buying power to
    create a much stronger market pull along the Mississippi coast. This
    market pull can be increased by coalescing our existing government,
    industry, and academic partners within a coordinated course of action,
    as well as by developing new partnerships with industry, technology-
    oriented philanthropic organizations, and capital resource entities.
    Strategic Federal and state investments, including oil spill recovery
    funds, can create new infrastructure and technology-based programs and
    jobs to further leverage this buying power.
        The Master Plan also recognizes the unique geographic setting of
    the Mississippi coast with respect to building our own capacity
    throughout the state without losing capacity to neighboring states at
    the edges. This creation of an inclusive plan with economic development
    opportunities extending northward is critical to its success. The
    Master Plan builds off the reality that much of Mississippi's overall
    economy is tied to the Blue Economy. As the maritime technology sector
    expands along the Coast, it will boost the State's economy with more
    technology-oriented, higher-paying jobs. Moreover, this plan builds a
    talent pipeline for a technology-based workforce to be trained at
    Mississippi universities and community colleges with Mississippi
    students from high performing Mississippi science, technology,
    engineering, and math (STEM) K-12 programs.
        The following nine recommendations constitute a tangible Roadmap
    for implementing the Master Plan. The GOTF believes its work should
    continue this effort by developing a series of proposals targeting
    state, federal, and private resources. A set of ``Goals and Targeted
    Actions'' are provided within the Master Plan to guide these proposal
    activities.
                                  THE ROADMAP
    DISTINGUISH MISSISSIPPI
    Present Mississippi as a well-positioned world leader in ocean science
            and maritime technologies.
        + Recommendation 1: Establish a marketing and branding plan to
    support a maritime technology corridor across the coastal counties with
    reach and relevance to non-coastal counties.
        + Recommendation 2: Establish a capital resources program
    supporting innovation, commercialization, and business development
    activities to better foster government, industry, and academic
    interactions leading to economic growth in the Blue Economy.
    STRENGTHEN OUR MARKET PULL
    Grow and expand attractors unique to Mississippi that create a
            competitive advantage.
        + Recommendation 3: Establish a unique unmanned maritime systems
    (UMS) operational range that is cohesive across air, land, riverine,
    coastal, and shallow-to-deep ocean environments. The range will support
    both defense and non-defense activities requiring the ability to test
    and evaluate UMS and their interoperability across platforms and
    domains.
        + Recommendation 4: Establish and operate a UMS warehouse and depot
    to serve as a centralized facility to manage the range. The depot will
    work with defense and non-defense stakeholders to establish
    competencies and standards, conduct calibration and validation
    exercises, maintain an inventory of UMS vehicles, provide maintenance
    facilities, monitor field performance and communications, and conduct
    inter-comparisons under controlled laboratory and field settings to
    ensure performance and training requirements are met.
        + Recommendation 5: Establish a maritime systems innovation and
    commercialization center to foster new systems and platforms--focused
    on, but not limited to, UMS--within academic, industry, and business
    development spaces.
        + Recommendation 6: Establish a federally-supported regional
    engineering and development center, co-located with the innovation and
    commercialization center, to support development and application of
    maritime systems and platforms for ocean exploration, forecasting, and
    data collection.
        + Recommendation 7: Provide high-performance and cloud computing
    facilities (including data processing, integration, and archival
    support) to allow industrial, government, and academic partners to test
    autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence within maritime systems
    and platforms.
    INCREASE OUR CAPACITY
    Utilize and enhance foundational assets that create and retain
            Mississippi's competitive advantage.
        + Recommendation 8: Enhance high school, community college, and
    university education and workforce training programs to create a
    pipeline for success and retention of Mississippi students. These
    programs should complement the education required for a solid
    technology-based workforce and include technical career pathways,
    university-based certification and degree programs, and traditional
    STEM degrees. Build connections with local industry leaders to
    understand their workforce needs and to establish internship programs
    that provide hands-on experiences for students.
        + Recommendation 9: Establish a Mississippi-based national resource
    for understanding existing laws and regulations as well as the
    development of new policy and ethical considerations involving maritime
    systems and platforms, specifically UMS.
                                  INTRODUCTION
        The traditional Maritime Economy sectors in Mississippi-
    shipbuilding, oil & gas, transportation, fishing, and tourism-have long
    been recognized as vital sectors of the coastal economy. But, the
    impact of the greater Blue Economy has been largely underestimated, and
    this issue is not unique to Mississippi. Over the past few years,
    efforts to bring attention to Mississippi's Blue Economy have revealed
    that this sector, including the traditional Maritime Economy, may in
    fact represent the largest contributing economic sector in the State.
        For a recent request submitted to the Mississippi Enterprise for
    Technology (MSET), a cursory search for companies operating in the Blue
    Economy along the Coast revealed as many as 109 organizations working
    in the sector in the lower three counties--Hancock, Harrison, and
    Jackson counties. Areas of focus in those organizations included
    specializations in technology development, urban concerns/coastal
    resiliency, observation and exploration, modeling/prediction/
    forecasting, marine-based research, and unmanned maritime systems (UMS
    \1\) development. Current and future efforts to quantify the Blue
    Economy in Mississippi must focus on identifying and understanding
    these organizations--federal, state, university, and private industry-
    that support essentially poorly categorized industries, projects, and
    programs related to water.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ In this document, UMS refers to Unmanned Maritime Systems--
    whether surface, sub-surface, or seafloor. ``Autonomous'' systems are a
    subset of these that incorporate decision-making algorithms within the
    vehicle. UxS refers to all unmanned systems including maritime, aerial,
    ground, or space-based systems.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        This initial GOTF Master Plan is meant to serve as a vision for the
    future for establishing Mississippi as a national resource for
    innovation, commercialization, policy, and talent development in ocean
    technologies and UMS. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is strongly positioned
    to attract and maintain maritime and ocean technology industries and,
    specifically, the UMS subset of the industry. This assessment reveals a
    clear opportunity to expand the economic base and add maritime and
    ocean technology businesses across the coast and impact the economic
    development of related businesses statewide.
        One example is the larger opportunity to develop an operational
    range for UMS that is cohesive across air, land, riverine, coastal, and
    shallow-to-deep ocean environments exists across the Coast and would
    create a new market pull from competitive states. The Blue Economy is
    not limited to UMS, but includes all technology sectors relating to the
    marine and coastal environments. A targeted branding, marketing, and
    incentive strategy focused on the Blue Economy will attract new
    maritime industries to south Mississippi and contributes to supply
    chain growth throughout the State.
        The GOTF Master Plan is intended to develop Mississippi-specific
    activities that work in parallel with the Chief of Naval Research's
    Task Force Ocean (TFO) initiatives to maintain U.S. Navy competitive
    advantages maritime sensing and observation; modeling and prediction;
    application and decision aids; and human capital and technical
    workforce. As the TFO completes its recommendations, Mississippi will
    be well-positioned to contribute to the national need while enhancing
    our own economy through growth in the Blue Technology industries.
                                  METHODOLOGY
        On June 1, 2017, Governor Bryant signed Executive Order 1401
    (EO1401) creating the Governor's Ocean Task Force (GOTF). The Governor
    appointed 22 members, and named Dr. Monty Graham, Director of the
    School of Ocean Science and Technology at The University of Southern
    Mississippi, as Chairman of the GOTF. Key focus areas identified by
    EO1401 include: growing existing research and development for
    oceanography; unmanned maritime vehicles; technical workforce
    development; marine science research; and private sector activity. The
    GOTF was directed by Governor Bryant to develop a Master Plan for
    Mississippi that would include:

      a.  Cataloging existing investments in the areas of ocean
            technologies and unmanned maritime systems; understanding the
            State's competitive position in these fields; and recommending
            a strategy to bring the State into international
            competitiveness in this area.

      b.  Establishing a tangible and achievable roadmap to build capacity
            in maritime systems with an emphasis on national defense,
            energy exploration, marine resources, environmental monitoring,
            and aquaculture.

      c.  Proposing a strategy for working with state and Federal lawmakers
            to develop a vibrant economy around these technologies that
            includes a means for encouraging maritime technology companies
            to locate in the state.

        Task Force members were assigned to individual focus groups: Policy
    and Ethics, Engineering Capacity, Applications, Economic Development,
    Education and Workforce Training, and Advanced Development and Testing.
    Each focus group was assigned one of the GOTF members as the focus
    group lead, and each group recruited other advisors and subject matter
    experts for support. From these additional advisors, a technical lead
    was chosen to assist each focus group lead. Each focus group was
    instructed to survey the State's current assets (related to their
    specific areas), identify the capabilities and infrastructure, and
    determine the gaps.
        More specifically, this survey included ocean technologies and
    maritime systems focused on national defense, energy exploration,
    marine resources, environmental monitoring, and aquaculture. Specific
    emphasis was focused on UMS manufacturers; the organizations that
    support the development/enhancement of these systems; data acquisition
    and handling; data analytics and product development; operations and
    maintenance; and communications providers. The existing infrastructure
    within the State to support UMS deployment, test, evaluation, and use
    is also included in the survey.
        Each group's efforts resulted in a synopsis of the current state of
    their focus areas and recommendations on how the State should
    strategically advance future development of ocean technologies and
    maritime assets along the Gulf Coast. Recommendations from all six
    groups were compiled into a list of Goals and Targeted Actions. These
    Goals and Targeted Actions support the Roadmap by providing steps be
    taken during implementation of the GOTF Master Plan.
                                 AREAS OF FOCUS
        The work of the focus groups is summarized here to provide a high-
    level understanding of capacity, opportunities, and challenges within
    these areas. Gaps are specifically identified as they lead to the
    development of goals and targeted actions.
    EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
        Mississippi has a long history of building collaborative
    partnerships with government, academia, and the private sector to
    develop the human capital needed for high-growth, high-demand,
    technology-based industries. These relationships are poised to continue
    to grow and develop with the ocean technology and unmanned maritime
    systems focus, necessitating partnerships among educational
    institutions ranging from K12 to community colleges to universities.
    Unfortunately, Mississippi suffers from a chronic loss of Science,
    Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students after graduation,
    which hinders growth in these sectors.
    Education and Training Programs
        The growing importance of STEM subjects to the workforce is
    demonstrated in Mississippi's K12 schools with the existing STEM
    related Career and Technical (CTE) Curricula and initiatives such as
    Robotics programs and the Computer Science for Mississippi Initiative
    (CS4MS). The purpose of CS4MS is to implement computer science courses
    in all schools and grades by 2024. High schools are projected to
    provide a four-course sequence to allow students to earn a CTE
    endorsement in Computer Science at any comprehensive high school, not
    just CTE Centers.
        Most high schools recognize the importance of preparing students
    for STEM-related careers. Lacking are programs that specifically
    correlate those STEM classes to careers within the Blue Economy.
    Examples of existing programs include ocean science classes or
    participation of teams in competitions such as the National Ocean
    Sciences Bowl. However, these programs do not necessarily inform
    students of the types of STEM jobs available within the State for any
    type of employer-federal or state government, large or small company,
    university or nonprofit. High school programs also need more internship
    opportunities for students that fit both need and schedule.
        Post-secondary programs throughout the State offer fields of study
    and practice valuable to ocean technology and UMS industries. Programs
    include physical, life, and environmental sciences; engineering; earth,
    atmosphere, and ocean sciences; mathematics; computer science;
    cybersecurity; and other STEM related programs. The challenge is to
    ensure marine technology and UMS-specific education matches the need
    for alternative approaches to training based on progressive
    technological and systems advancements. Education and training programs
    must effectively blend theoretical and practical application, preparing
    marine technology and UMS operators and developers to translate complex
    information, patterns, and trends into usable data. Several research-
    intensive Mississippi universities have existing certification and
    degree programs as well as active oceanographic, hydrographic, or
    unmanned systems research engineering programs that address these
    issues.
        The University of Southern Mississippi houses the School of Ocean
    Science and Technology (SOST). Most of the SOST academic and research
    programs are on the Coast, spanning from the Gulf Coast Research
    Laboratory in Jackson County to the Division of Marine Science's
    oceanographers and hydrographers at Stennis Space Center. The SOST will
    expand into a new marine research facility at the Port of Gulfport,
    where the Ocean Engineering program will be supported along with the
    research vessel Point Sur's shore operations. The SOST offers degrees
    ranging from undergraduate degrees in Marine Science and Ocean
    Engineering, to master's degrees, including one of only two
    Hydrographic Science degrees in the nation, and doctoral degrees. The
    SOST currently manages over $90M in contracts and grants in ocean
    engineering, oceanography, hydrography, fisheries, aquaculture and
    other fields. USM also has research and education programs in Computer
    Science and Engineering, and a world-renowned Polymer Science and
    Engineering program.
        USM recently offered the Nation's only university-sponsored
    academic certification in UMS. This inaugural class of 15 Navy-
    sponsored students represented a rigorous curriculum designed to give
    decision-making skills to the Navy warfighter when using UMS as an
    asset in ocean surveillance. USM and the Navy are developing a set of
    competencies that will expand the current Tier 1 certification to more
    advanced Tier 2 and 3 certifications and degrees.
        In USM's School of Computing, advanced algorithms for big data
    analytics are being developed which, once validated, can provide the
    leading-edge technologies for handling the large amounts of data that
    are anticipated to be collected, processed, and analyzed in the
    implementation phase of the GOTF Master Plan.
        Mississippi State University (MSU) leads a wide range of research,
    service, and academic programs that support Mississippi's Blue Economy.
    The Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) offers undergraduate,
    master's, and doctoral degrees that support coastal industries,
    including Chevron, Ingalls, and industries at Stennis Space Center, as
    well as federal, state, and local government. Recently, the BCoE
    started classes at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College so students
    can earn either an electrical or a mechanical engineering degree from
    Mississippi State without leaving the Coast.
        MSU has many significant research programs on the Coast. The
    Northern Gulf Institute, led by MSU and co-led by USM, has its program
    office and 30 employees in the MSU Science and Technology Building at
    Stennis Space Center. The building also houses the Associate Director
    of the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence
    (ASSURE) and the FAA Center of Excellence for UAS. MSU leads the
    Mississippi-partnership recently chosen to direct the new Department of
    Homeland Security Science and Technology Small Unmanned Aircraft
    Systems Demonstration Range Facility.
        The University of Mississippi (UM) National Center for Physical
    Acoustics (NCPA) boasts a 30-year history in developing novel sensor
    applications for a wide variety of problems, including underwater
    acoustics. Interpreting the signals received from these sensors is an
    active field of study, specifically sub-bottom profiling and
    tomographic techniques for finding sub-surface features. NCPA works
    closely with the Department of Physics and School of Engineering to
    educate graduate students in cutting edge sensor and signal processing
    technologies to produce the next generation of scientists and
    engineers. Private sector partners have always played an important role
    in project development at NCPA which strives to transition bench-top
    research into deployable solutions.
        UM also has a long history of partnering with the University of
    Southern Mississippi in developing a variety of undersea vehicle
    technologies including integration of sensor platforms in vehicles,
    data storage, and exploration of the Gulf and beyond. Scientists from
    the National Center for Natural Products Research at UM have used these
    tools to explore undersea flora with unique, potentially therapeutic
    compounds as a front line in novel drug development.
        Both Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Pearl River
    Community College play key roles in workforce training in technical
    career pathways through their existing programs. New programs to
    specifically address technical career opportunities in maritime systems
    should be developed as the GOTF Master Plan is implemented.
    Existing Skill Framework/Preliminary Workforce Analysis
        Preliminary workforce analysis to determine current marine
    technology and UMS education and workforce requirements revealed an
    increased manpower need in support of the Navy Shipbuilding Plan. While
    the increased manpower is not specifically for UMS, the increased
    workforce includes the need for UMS and similarly-trained personnel.
    Forty-one percent of the increased manpower will be in the civilian and
    contractor workforce, with the remaining increase in Naval Operational
    Oceanography (23 percent), enlisted personnel (26 percent) and officers
    (7 percent). Further analysis indicated that two-thirds of the current
    Stennis Space Center (SSC) Naval Oceanography (NAVO) workforce has at
    least a Bachelor's degree.
        Research suggests that the increased use and integration of remote
    and cyber platforms will have a dramatic impact on the approach to
    training and recruiting methodologies, creating the need to include not
    only functional skills relevant to capabilities of marine technologies
    and UMS, but also the fundamentals of communication and information
    systems. Additionally, values such as integrity, teamwork, dedication
    to strategic goals/mission, the ability to maintain confidentiality,
    and creative problem solving under pressure are critical components of
    new training programs. Interviews with Navy leadership and the UMS
    Certification Program Directors revealed there is no recognized or
    widely accepted set of UMS standards or skill frameworks. The lack of
    historical experience in training and education specific for UMS, as
    compared to other disciplines and fields of practice, makes preparing
    the workforce with relevant skills to support UMS difficult.
        A robust, research-based, practitioner-focused skills framework can
    provide the foundation for recruiting, training, and developing a
    marine technology and UMS workforce that closely aligns with the needs
    of the future jobs.
        The framework can identify the broad range of skills discussed
    above, and the required level of education for various career paths.
    Skillsets will drive the recruitment and enlistment criteria to more
    closely reflect the needs of the jobs.
    Gaps:
        Need for plans and programs to grow and retain the top STEM-
    performing high-school graduates in the Mississippi technology
    workforce.
        Need for more diverse STEM programs in high schools throughout the
    state focused on target industry sectors--specifically maritime
    technologies and UMS--within the context of the GOTF master plan.
    Internship and earlier career path opportunities should be associated
    with these programs.
        Need for UMS Certification. Certification efforts are in their
    infancy, and development to meet unknown workforce needs will require
    close interaction among certification provider (USM), manufacturers,
    and end-users (defense and non-defense).
        Need for UMS operator training across domains of air-sea-space
    currently exists due to the growing demand.
        Need for established workforce competencies in UMS.
        Need for a National Maritime Center for Policy and Ethics.
    Currently, there is not one. The pedagogic mission suggests this
    initiative should be university-based.
        Need for workforce training and career technical specialists. The
    workforce demand for career technical specialists in mechanics,
    electronics, maintenance, and repair is expected to grow with the
    marine technology and UMS industries, yet workforce training of career
    technical specialists in marine technology and UMS is lagging.
                              ENGINEERING CAPACITY

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    ENGINEERING CAPACITY
    Blue Engineering in Mississippi
        A robust Blue Economy based on research, development, augmentation,
    validation, and application of unmanned maritime systems requires a
    steady supply of engineers and ideas. Together these two, engineers and
    ideas, are described as `Engineering Capacity'.
        Recent efforts to catalogue existing maritime `blue' engineering
    capacity across organizations--federal, state, university, and private
    industry--indicate that Mississippi's blue engineering capacity is
    mainly centered on ocean-based projects and programs that are loosely
    organized at the project level. The tracking of engineers in the job
    market is ill defined for maritime. For example, an engineering company
    working on systems and sensors to understand nearshore waves is
    categorized under the broad category of `professional engineering'. All
    of the engineering companies in the State can be identified; however,
    identifying those working specifically in the maritime sector is a much
    more difficult task.
        This engineering capacity requires a modern collaborative
    environment, whether it be collaboration for science or collaboration
    for development. This means that engineers and scientists must have
    forums to communicate and collaborate. These forums may be a physical
    location, a virtual space, or, preferably, a combination of the two.
    Unmanned Systems
        For the purposes of the Governor's Ocean Task Force, the
    Engineering Capacity focus group targeted the UMS sector as an emerging
    field that is extremely relevant to organizations in the State, such as
    the Navy and NOAA, which represent existing, internal markets for these
    systems and the information they provide. In understanding the
    engineering capacity associated with UMS in the State, all
    organizations that support the development/enhancement of the systems,
    data acquisition and handling, data analytics and product development,
    operations and maintenance, and communications providers must be
    examined.
    Existing Capacity
        A catalog of Mississippi-based UMS assets was compiled. Using
    customized Asset Sheets, organizations were cataloged according to how
    they support UMS--associated with systems, services, or infrastructure.
    These Asset Sheets provide details of how each asset supports UMS;
    similar sheets were collected for organizations that are not currently
    supporting UMS efforts, but have the capacity to do so. The information
    on these sheets, combined with information gleaned from discussions
    with UMS users, formed the basis for the information that follows.
        The review of organizations that support UMS systems identified
    twelve Federal agencies, eight state agencies and universities, and
    thirty-six private companies. Based on the review, Mississippi has a
    large number of assets--systems manufacturers, service providers,
    operators, human capital, technology support, training programs, etc.--
    that support UMS. Another thirty companies that currently do not
    support UMS, but have the capability to do so, were identified.
        Companies located in the State that are key participants in UMS, or
    could support UMS, include the following:

       Leidos

       General Atomics

       Lockheed Martin

       Teledyne

       Stark Aerospace

       Insitu

       Raytheon

       Aurora Flight Sciences
    Gaps:
        Need for a method to assemble and track data on engineering
    capacity. Currently, data is limited and largely held by industry at
    the project level.
        Need for physical or virtual spaces to develop an innovative
    environment for collaborative research and development or engineering
    prototyping among academia, government, industry and non-profit
    organizations. These spaces should have capacity to handle both
    classified and unclassified projects with appropriately cleared staff.
        Need for a systems maintenance and repair operation (MRO) in
    Mississippi. Without properly trained workforce and adequate MRO
    facilities, unmanned vehicles and sensors will continue to be sent out
    of state.
                        ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING
    ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING
    Current Capabilities in Mississippi
        Advanced development and testing efforts related to the Blue
    Economy are currently taking place throughout the State but are often
    very specific to a system or technology, such as an aircraft with
    sensors that look down at the ocean or a new ship launched along the
    Coast. In some cases, an organization procures any needed equipment for
    development and testing, which tends to be costly. This results in a
    number of individual organizations spending project monies on the same
    types of equipment. A better solution would be to contract the use of
    another organization's development and test equipment, but this is
    currently difficult for several reasons: 1) Some equipment is not
    easily accessible (a Federal asset, for example); 2) There is a lack of
    information on the assets available in the State and how to access
    them; 3) Research, development, and testing elements are conducted out-
    of-state, making personal interaction difficult, particularly during
    technology creation and development.
    Up-and-Coming Programs
        There are various Mississippi-based organizations that are
    currently working on efforts to grow the Blue Economy in terms of
    technology advancement, reduced costs, increased accuracy, and
    efficiency. These include Federal laboratories, private companies with
    internal R&D efforts, and entrepreneurs. Recent efforts in Federal
    programs like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),
    Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Naval Research Lab (NRL), as well
    as in companies such as Huntington Ingalls and Shell Oil Company, are
    focused both on the development of new techniques or new applications
    of existing techniques, and on the integration,interchangeability, and
    extensibility of systems to provide customized solutions to a number of
    scenarios. Challenges for these programs are all relatively consistent
    and include:

       Interoperability

       Autonomy

       Integration

       Communications

       Training

       Propulsion & Power

       Manned-Unmanned Issues

        For example, long-term Navy goals are focused on Manned-Unmanned
    (MUM) Teaming, where actions and reactions of all types of fleet forces
    can be optimized based on the specifics of a scenario to be addressed.
    This strategy requires forethought during system design, with attention
    to open architectures in hardware and software components, interface
    standards, and even materials used. Intricacies of how systems will
    work together and development of rules of engagement are still a work-
    in-progress. A number of Mississippi assets exist that can be applied
    to the challenges facing these programs.
        A need has emerged for a range that supports the operation of these
    systems in environments that closely mimic the environments where
    missions, whether military, humanitarian, or commercial, will be
    carried out. To showcase the need for such an operational range, the
    Commander Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC) recently
    held a demonstration in the Gulf of Mexico exhibiting how a range would
    work in support of various Naval missions. There is growing support
    within the Navy for a permanent location for an operational range, a
    new concept in ranges.
        The requirements for an operational range are anticipated to be far
    less complicated than other types of Navy ranges. The operational range
    will be well understood environmentally, but not require many expensive
    in-water assets. The Navy anticipates the use of its own survey
    systems, as well as those within NOAA, to gather in-situ measurements
    and use them to refine computer models of the range area. The Navy
    seeks to support a variety of training missions within an operational
    range with access to both shallow and deep waters, brown water as well
    as blue water, and riverine access and influences. The Mississippi
    Coast is uniquely suited for this goal. The Navy has anticipated many
    of the initiatives associated with the establishment of the operational
    range. These include:

       Environmental surveys/assessments

       Mission impact studies on the environment and local marine
            life

       Permitting process/COAs

       Inventory of systems (separate from NAVOCEANO)

       Command and Control Centers (2 anticipated)

       Expansion of CODAR on Singing River Island

       Improvements to Navy models

       Safety plans

       Communications/power infrastructure (e.g., in-water docking
            station)

        The Navy is not currently equipped to handle each of these efforts,
    so there will be opportunities for contractor support from companies
    with relevant expertise. Additionally, there will be on-demand-type
    requirements for support from dive teams, patrol/other small boats, and
    other suppliers.
    Gaps:
        Need for an entity that addresses the combination of air and sea
    UMS operations. Given the goals of the Navy and other organizations to
    use a combination of satellite-, air-, and sea-based systems depending
    on the ``mission'', future efforts will require a working knowledge of
    which resources are best suited for which operations, uses, and
    applications. As the Navy leads this effort, other agencies will
    follow, and various industry uses will be identified.
        Need for an incubator/accelerator focused on the development of new
    ideas in the Blue Economy with dedicated space supporting academia,
    government agencies, industry, and entrepreneurs and early stage
    companies. The facility should provide shared equipment needed for
    developing, prototyping, and testing; and should house organizations
    with the expertise for developing not only the technology, but also the
    business case for the technology. As a result, ideas for new sensors
    and systems can be developed, prototyped, tested, and commercialized
    from a single location.
        Need for a location that the Navy, or any industry alliance, has
    identified as the gold standard for an operational range supporting all
    types of UMS. This range would need to be supported by adequate
    warehousing and depot spaces needed to manage large fleets of UMS
    vehicles and sensors while also providing the technical capacity to
    maintain the fleet.
        Need for a national cohesive air-water corridor from river to coast
    to blue and deep water that is manageable as an operable range for
    purposes of defense and non-defense development, validation,
    verification and data acquisition testing across platforms.
                                  APPLICATIONS
    APPLICATIONS
    Applications for Existing Industry
        Several maritime-based industries within the State use remotely
    operated and autonomous unmanned systems and other robotic
    instrumentation and sensors. Industries such as oil and gas; ports and
    transportation; commercial fishing; and aquaculture have recently
    started to utilize autonomous and remotely operated systems. Many
    industries are looking to expand their investments in these
    technologies.
        Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are regularly used by the oil and
    gas industry. Examples include mapping of pipelines or inspecting wells
    and equipment. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being used for
    bathymetric data and sub-bottom profiling. The use of wave gliders has
    been on the rise as battery life and propulsion systems improve. There
    is potential for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to replace surface
    ships as relays for tethered ROVs and AUVs. Ports, harbors, and
    maritime transportation have benefited from unmanned technology and
    sensor development. Technology that can benefit ports and harbors
    includes unmanned systems for detecting, tracking, and assessing
    threats. Vehicle automation can advance maritime transportation to
    complete operations in environments that are geopolitically or
    environmentally hazardous.
        The commercial fishing industry has recently started to utilize
    remotely operated technology. Fishermen often leverage the use of
    vessel monitoring systems mandated for compliance and enforcement in
    Federal fisheries for safety and data collection. Fish trackers and
    unmanned aerial systems operate from vessels that help target schools
    of fish and look for potential bycatch issues are used by commercial
    fleets.
        Robotic equipment in aquaculture can both increase production and
    reduce diver intervention for routine maintenance. Augmented reality
    technologies for diver operations can aid communication and improve
    efficiency underwater.
        The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) are
    increasingly utilizing unmanned systems. The U.S. Navy operates the
    largest fleet of unmanned systems in the world from Stennis Space
    Center. The DHS Science and Technology Directorate recently selected
    Mississippi as the new base of operations for small unmanned aircraft
    systems.
    Technology, Systems, and Systems Integration
        Mississippi has significant assets for supporting UMS applications
    including government, industry, and university resources and expertise
    related to multi and hyperspectral, LIDAR, synthetic aperture radar
    (SAR), and other similar remote sensing sensor systems; image
    processing, data storage and processing; and decision support tools
    development and validation. The State and its Federal partners have
    established both land and sea UAV flight zones within the state.
    Mississippi has prime sites along the Coast to manage operations of a
    large operational range encompassing multiple domains (air, water,
    space) requiring advances in:

       Development of inter-operational programs to address
            critical needs

       Processes for verification and validation of novel
            technologies leading to operational prototype (feedback to
            engineering)

       Valuation of data acquired through applications

        Leading-edge technologies for big data analysis, on-board
    processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cyber
    security in maritime technology and UMS markets are critical
    capabilities that should be developed in the State.
        Modern technological hardware is being designed as open and
    extensible platforms capable of acquiring accurate data almost anytime
    and anywhere. These hardware platforms have enormous application
    potential. The market for data about the physical world and about
    action occurring within the world is virtually limitless. UMS and other
    marine technologies are often primarily associated with data
    collection. The market for applications that transform that data into
    usable information holds the potential for tremendous economic growth.
        Mississippi has three separate entities that co-exist on a
    continuum of moving basic engineering into the market place while
    closing the loop on market needs as a means of informing basic
    engineering and research: Mississippi Enterprise for Technology,
    National Oceans and Applications Research Center, and the Marine
    Industries Science and Technology Cluster. The Mississippi Enterprise
    for Technology (MSET) operates the Mississippi Technology Transfer
    Center--authorized by State statute and agreements with the Mississippi
    Development Authority and NASA--at Stennis Space Center. The
    Mississippi Technology Transfer Center houses many advanced technology
    companies specializing in fields such as engineering, aerospace,
    geospatial technology, defense solutions, environmental sciences,
    marine technology, energy innovation, and IT. MSET is committed to
    supporting existing industry and to establishing robust partnerships
    with new businesses to promote entrepreneurship and technology-based
    economic development within the State.
        The National Oceans and Applications Research Center (NOARC) non-
    profit organization chartered by the State of Mississippi to grow UMS
    and marine technology companies in the State for ocean and coastal
    applications. To that end NOARC exists to leverage public and private
    capital resources, accelerate applications development through public/
    private partnerships, and leverage the UMS operational range for
    commercial and economic development.
        The Marine Industries Science & Technology (MIST) Cluster is a
    regional group of organizations involved in the development and
    implementation of applied technologies for operating in, working
    around, and monitoring the marine and coastal environments. The MIST
    Cluster Program is where technology innovators come together with
    industry end-users to understand each other's capabilities and needs
    and collaborate to foster expanded business and address shared issues.
    The MIST Cluster Program provides services to Mississippi blue tech
    industries including helping government agencies and large businesses
    identify local companies that can assist them in meeting small business
    goals and to connect with the innovative culture within these small
    high-tech companies. The MIST Cluster serves as a repository and
    catalyst for understanding and advancing the Blue Economy in
    Mississippi.
    Gaps:
        Need for the development of a marketing plan to highlight the
    multiple sectors of marine technology and UMS development and
    application in Mississippi based on a broad view of the potential
    economic impact.
        Need for trained accredited engineers in Mississippi to keep pace
    with computational needs, systems calibration, platform or vehicle
    validation, testing and advanced development needs of defense and non-
    defense industry should Mississippi serve as the Nation's operational
    range and depot.
        Need for a fully developed strategy to pull together existing
    critical investments. Three entities with linking missions that should
    function collaboratively and seamlessly are: NOARC as the State's lead
    program for application development, MSET as the State's lead agency
    for technology-based economic development, and MIST Cluster as the
    State's lead maritime technology cluster program.
                              ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
    ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
    Business Retention and Expansion Program
        A thorough and comprehensive business retention and expansion
    strategy will protect and grow Mississippi's existing ocean and
    maritime technology industries. Robust data on marine technology
    sectors need to be gathered using state of the art survey tools and
    methods. Innovative methods to identify Blue Economy and UMS companies
    may be necessary to combat the difficulties seen in using standardized
    classification codes. Additionally, industry surveys must include
    sectors not traditionally thought of as maritime specific. The initial
    target company list should consist of major players within the ocean/
    maritime industry, in addition to blue technology companies, and focus
    on the Navy's Task Force Ocean Focus Areas: Sensing and observation;
    modeling and prediction; application and decision aids; human capital
    and technical workforce.
    Emerging Markets
        There are a number of emerging markets associated with the Blue
    Economy sectors. Examples of these include the increased use of
    unmanned systems for ocean sensing and forecasting, including handling
    of increasingly large datasets and their real-time interpretation;
    large unmanned transportation; floating ports; and defense-related
    support. Enormous capacity exists within the State in Federal and state
    agencies, and private organizations to support marine technology and
    UMS development and testing, evaluation, utilization, and maintenance.
    To be successful, continuous understanding of advances in select,
    Mississippi-relevant markets is needed. Coordination of efforts across
    all types of organizations to strategically push these markets forward
    is essential to effectively capitalize on developing opportunities.
        Efforts to identify and foster the development of emerging Blue
    Economy markets need to be further developed and supported. Technology
    incubators and accelerators provide physical environments where early-
    stage companies can be co-located with subject matter experts and where
    innovative thinkers can collaborate. The process of technology
    commercialization requires knowledge and understanding of the
    applications and market for the innovation. In Mississippi, there is a
    wealth of technology being developed and used; however, there is little
    to support entrepreneurs in terms of funding (angel and venture), or
    for verification, validation, and modification of an invention. The
    process should encourage partnering among government, industry, higher
    education, non-profit and private sector entities to stimulate a strong
    network of technology and innovation.
    Cluster Branding and Sales Plan
        A well-structured and consistent communication strategy is a key
    component to the implementation of the GOTF Master Plan. For a cluster
    management organization to stand out as a point of reference and be
    recognized for its unique assets, it must be well-branded and marketed.
    The marketing and branding strategy is a comprehensive process that
    begins with gathering and analyzing data, understanding assets, and
    clearly defining a strategic mission. After this process is completed,
    the Governor's Ocean Task Force can begin to develop a communication
    and branding strategy and identify tools to reach the target audience.
    Gaps:
        Need for a coastal region or state-wide business retention and
    expansion plan aimed at industries operating in the Blue Economy.
        Need for a business incubator environment on the coast capable of
    supporting the engineering needs and expenses of small startup
    companies or emerging collaborative technologies.
        Need for a marketing and targeting strategy. Despite effort being
    made to develop the MIST Cluster in Mississippi, there lacks a coherent
    message that quality of life, workforce training, collaborative
    engineering spaces and growth opportunities all exist in Mississippi.
                               POLICY AND ETHICS
    POLICY AND ETHICS
    Legal Environment
        The legal and policy framework governing UMS activities is complex.
    On the Federal level, more than 20 agencies administer over 140 laws
    affecting ocean waters and resources. In Mississippi, three state
    agencies (Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Mississippi
    Secretary of State Office, and Mississippi Department of Environmental
    Quality) and associated Commissions implement a variety of coastal
    management and permitting programs. UMS activities occur in both state
    (0-3 nautical miles offshore) and Federal waters (3-200 nautical miles
    offshore). Additional layers of legal complexity emerge as UMS seek
    interoperability across platforms and domains.
        Consider, for instance, the complexity surrounding the necessary
    environmental reviews for an operational range. A review under the
    Federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is required for any
    major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the
    environment. The NEPA review, which may include the preparation of an
    Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, is handled
    by the Federal agency controlling the project. Where multiple Federal
    agencies are involved--for example, where a project needs permits from
    different agencies--the regulations require that a Lead Agency be
    designated to prepare and issue the NEPA document. Federal agencies are
    permitted to hire contractors to prepare the required environmental
    documents, but the documents must be reviewed and issued by the Lead
    Agency. Several Federal agencies are in a position to be designated the
    lead agency, including the Navy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or
    the U.S. Coast Guard.
        On the state level, the Mississippi Coastal Program has not been
    formally revised since 1988. The Mississippi Coastal Program was
    legislatively mandated in Section 57-15-6 of the Mississippi Code and
    approved by NOAA under the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management
    Act (CZMA) on September 29, 1980. Implementation of the Mississippi
    Coastal Program is the primary responsibility of the Office of Coastal
    Resources within the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
    Mississippi has submitted program changes to the NOAA Office of Coastal
    Management since the last revision, but the Mississippi Coastal Program
    document has not been updated and re-issued, making it difficult for
    the regulated community to assess applicability to proposed activities.
        Additionally, certain assets and proposed activities bring with
    them additional regulatory policies and procedures as well as questions
    of oversight, ownership, and liability. Marine Technology and UMS
    assets must be clearly classified not only by use, but also by
    applicable regulations and other navigational rules. These may include
    the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
    (COLREGS), as well as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
    flight procedures.

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    Ethical Environment
        In an effort to enhance the moral connectivity of remote operators,
    the U.S. Army developed The Human Dimension training concept, which
    posits the central importance of the moral, physical and cognitive
    components of the soldier in order to provide a balance to the tactile
    tools of war. The Human Dimension highlights the pre-eminent need for a
    human element for ethical decision making in the face of increasingly
    remote methods. Not only will future UMS training and education
    initiatives need to teach functional knowledge and advanced
    technologies, programs should include ethical considerations that
    prepare participants to confront multi-dimensional problems.
        There are also public policy and ethical issues surrounding the
    increased use of UMS in the Gulf of Mexico. The waters of the Gulf of
    Mexico are home to a variety of public and private activities including
    oil and gas development, commercial fishing, recreational fishing and
    boating, and aquaculture. The proposed assets and activities could
    potentially negatively impact commercial fishing operations or state-
    sponsored projects such as shellfish aquaculture efforts and oyster
    mapping efforts in the western Mississippi Sound, so that impact must
    be considered.
    Gap:
        Need for a national resource center that can be used to assist
    Mississippi in developing a strategy that addresses existing or needed
    laws. The suite of state and Federal laws that relate to marine
    technologies and UMS testing and application are expansive. The center
    would be a resource for ethical considerations of UMS development and
    applications. The center would also serve as a base of knowledge as
    various types of UMS are operated together.
                           GOALS AND TARGETED ACTIONS
        The following goals and targeted actions have been synthesized from
    GOTF Focus Group reports and are intended to address the gaps
    identified in each area of focus. `Goals' are measureable targets with
    specific `Actions' being recommended activities to achieve them. All
    are relatable to at least one of the Roadmap's Key Recommendations. The
    GOTF expects these Goals and Targeted Actions to be refined with time
    as the Master Plan is implemented.
    Education and Workforce
        Goal: Grow and retain the top STEM-performing high-school and
    university graduates for entrance into the Mississippi technology
    workforce.

       Action: Define career pathways and competencies in maritime
            technologies from K12 through graduate studies. Implement high
            velocity learning at every level, determine the best concepts,
            techniques and technologies to accelerate learning at the
            individual, team and organizational levels.

        Goal: Expand UMS certification programs to meet unknown workforce
    needs through collaboration between certification provider
    (universities), technology domain, and potential employer (defense and
    non-defense industries).

       Action: Create a strategic plan for learning and development
            of UMS to guide future training and formalize training skills
            and standards in order to ensure a consistent level of
            capability.

        Goal: Establish universally acceptable marine technology and UMS
    workforce competencies and develop training across domains of air-sea-
    space to meet the growing demand of cross-domain operators.

       Action: Build out local infrastructure and develop
            collaborative opportunities to strategically integrate and
            align the workforce with future growth and development in
            maritime technologies.

        Goal: Overcome the dearth of multidisciplinary technical
    specialists in mechanics; electronics; and maintenance and repair
    operations within marine technology industries in the State.

       Action: Create a talent pipeline by accelerating the
            training and reskilling that allows people and technology to
            reach their full potential.
    Engineering Capacity
        Goal: Assemble and maintain data on engineering capacity and assets
    in the engineering sector of the Blue Economy for the entire State.

       Action: Catalogue organizations and assets by current
            capabilities, avenues for growth, and emerging needs.

        Goal: Grow the pool of accredited engineers in the Mississippi
    workforce to keep pace with computational needs, systems calibration,
    platform or vehicle validation, testing and advanced development needs
    in marine technology industries.

       Action: Leverage current educational programs to produce
            more engineers graduating from Mississippi universities and
            develop recruitment strategies to attract talent to the State.
    Advanced Development and Testing

        Goal: Provide complete end-to-end support for development of new
    technologies and advanced capabilities in the marine technologies and
    UMS sectors along the Mississippi Coast through a robust process of
    verification and validation of novel products. The process will need to
    begin in the design phase; address both digital and physical product
    development and realization; and include complex system and network
    design and development across an integrated range of product platforms
    aimed at addressing customer needs.

       Action: Identify commercializable Federal or university
            technologies and create a mechanism for pairing those
            technologies with entrepreneurs, small businesses, or large
            corporations capable of productization of those technologies.

       Action: Create an instrument that offsets costs associated
            with assessing a technology for the commercial market.

       Action: Develop a comprehensive test and evaluation
            capability for marine technologies and UMS, whether aerial,
            surface, or underwater.

       Action: Reinforce existing infrastructure and build new
            infrastructure that is conducive to Mississippi's intrinsic
            strengths in systems engineering, polymer engineering, and
            computational engineering.
    Applications
        Goal: Cultivate programs to develop new marine hardware platforms--
    especially unmanned and autonomous systems--with a connected
    architecture, specifically for data collection applications allowing
    interface with cloud computing capabilities enabling seamless, real-
    time analytics. Platforms across sea, air, and space technologies
    domains should be developed with common architectures allowing for
    seamless systems communication and data integration across the
    platforms.

       Action: Integrate hardware and software design to garner
            their features from the software, allowing for updates with new
            abilities and improved performance parameters over the life of
            the hardware.

       Action: Design hardware and software technologies with
            integrated cyber security components; additional research and
            development thrusts should be implemented to ensure systems
            security.

       Action: Develop advanced algorithms for big data analytics
            to provide leading-edge technologies for handling the large
            amounts of data garnered by new technological platforms.

       Action: Develop high performance, real-time analytics
            capabilities with dynamic sampling and critical feature
            selection to evaluate the performance of various combinations
            of feature ranking/selection algorithms, clustering algorithms,
            sampling methods, and learning machines.

        Goal: Build capacity within the State for development of new
    battery technologies and novel power sources/generators for unmanned
    systems; advanced vehicular automation technology development; and
    augmented reality technologies development for integration into
    existing and future applications.

       Action: Create cross-over programs that provide both the
            academic and industry expertise necessary to develop, test,
            operate, and understand the functionality and applications of
            developmental systems.

        Goal: Expand capabilities and expertise in marine technologies
    focused on fisheries management and aquaculture.

       Action: Develop technologies to remotely monitor fishing and
            help protect the marine environment by aiding in the reduction
            of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.

       Action: Develop autonomous cages that follow optimal ocean
            and atmospheric environmental conditions for aquaculture
            research and industrial development.
    Economic Development
        Goal: Capitalize on Mississippi's vast potential for development of
    multiple sectors of maritime technology and UMS development by
    providing State and local economic development agencies the resources
    to fully comprehend the economic impact of the Blue Economy which is
    currently not well understood.

       Action: Engage a highly-qualified consultant to conduct a
            thorough analysis of Mississippi's ocean, maritime, and related
            technology industries against competitive states to identify
            Mississippi's advantages and its gaps (SWOT); analysis should
            include workforce, available incentives, venture capital and
            private funding sources, and state and Federal resources. The
            study should include a comprehensive report on the Blue Economy
            within the State.

        Goal: Improve collaboration and a more seamless functioning of
    existing tech-focused non-profit organizations and programs along the
    Gulf Coast that have linking missions. Among these are NOARC as the
    state's lead organization for marine technology applications
    development, MSET as the state's lead organization for technology-based
    economic development along the Gulf Coast, and USM's MIST Cluster
    program as the state's lead program supporting the northern gulf coast
    region's maritime technology cluster.

       Action: Designate MSET as the lead project management agency
            to carry forward the strategic actions of the GOTF Master plan.
            Provide appropriate resources and funding to ensure MSET is
            properly staffed and able to assist in attracting both external
            and internal interest and resources that support development of
            ocean science and maritime technologies along the Gulf Coast.

       Action: Provide long-term funding to complement non-State
            resources and ensure the sustainability of the MIST Cluster
            program and investigate potential transfer to an independent,
            state-chartered, non-profit organization for long-term
            management.

       Action: Develop R&D tax credits, applied R&D seed fund, and
            similar programs that attract capital investment in marine-
            related applied research to leverage in conjunction with
            NOARC's development and validation capabilities. Provide long-
            term funding to ensure that NOARC is properly staffed and able
            to fulfill its mission.

        Goal: Increase the focus and promote a shared vision among economic
    development organization for the growth of the Blue Economy in the
    State of Mississippi.

       Action: Develop a comprehensive economic development
            recruitment strategy targeting industry working in the Blue
            Economy, specifically marine technologies and UMS sectors.

       Action: Identify emerging markets in the Blue Economy and
            target markets that are synergistic to Mississippi
            capabilities.

       Action: Create focused Blue Economy marketing materials and
            incentives.

       Action: Develop a GOTF-specific business retention and
            expansion program.

       Action: Partner with the MS Gulf Coast Alliance to survey
            key industries and determine what policies and services will
            support their long-term viability and growth. Utilize survey
            results to identify current opportunities for growth, market
            constraints, and local obstacles.

       Action: Develop a coherent message that quality of life,
            workforce training, collaborative engineering spaces, and
            growth opportunities all exist in Mississippi.

       Action: Target recruitment of MRO operations for marine
            technologies and UMS systems for expansion into Mississippi.
    Policy and Ethics
        Goal: Position Mississippi as a leader in the development of policy
    and law in the marine technology and UMS domains.

       Action: Create a statewide resource center that can be used
            to assist Mississippi in developing a strategy that addresses
            existing or needed laws and ethical considerations for marine
            technologies and UMS development and applications.

       Action: Update the Mississippi Coastal Program to include
            UMS operations and activities.

       Action: Develop a comprehensive inventory of state, federal,
            and international laws and regulations governing UMS activities
            and operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

       Action: Develop a series of policy documents to support
            future marine technology and UMS activities in the Gulf of
            Mexico.

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                        APPENDIX B: FOCUS GROUP REPORTS
        The following reports were compiled by each of the focus groups for
    their respective areas of focus. Each focus group was assigned one of
    the GOTF members as the focus group lead, and each group recruited
    other advisors and subject matter experts for support. The groups were
    instructed to survey the State's current assets (related to their
    specific areas), catalogue the capabilities and infrastructure, and
    identify the gaps. Each group's efforts resulted in a synopsis of the
    current state of their target areas and recommendations on how the
    state should strategically advance future development of ocean
    technologies and maritime assets along the gulf coast. Recommendations
    from all six groups were then synthesized to create the ``key
    recommendations,'' as well as to identify goals and targeted actions.
    EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
        Mississippi has a long history of building collaborative
    partnerships with government, academia, and the private sector to
    develop the human capital needed for high-growth, high-demand
    technology-based industries. These relationships are poised to continue
    to grow and develop with the UMS focus, partnering with educational
    institutions, from K12 to community colleges to universities, in areas
    of mutual interest and mutual benefit.
    Education and Training Programs
        The growing importance of the STEM subjects to the workforce is
    demonstrated in Mississippi's K12 schools with the existing STEM
    related Career and Technical Curricula and initiatives such as the
    Robotics and CS4MS Programs. The focus for CS4MS is to implement
    computer science in all schools in all grades by 2024 or sooner. Middle
    school implementation began this school year. High Schools are
    projected to provide a 4-course sequence to allow students to earn a
    CTE endorsement in Computer Science at any comprehensive high school,
    not just CTE Centers.
        Existing post-secondary programs throughout the State offer fields
    of study and practice representing related domains to develop the human
    capital for UMS. Programs include physical, life and environmental
    sciences, engineering, earth/atmosphere/ocean sciences, mathematics,
    computer science, cybersecurity and other STEM related programs. The
    challenge is to ensure UMS-specific training is matched by training
    advancements that reflect the need for alternative approaches to
    education and training based on progressive UMS changes. Education and
    training programs must effectively blend theoretical and practical
    application, preparing UMS operators and developers with the training,
    education, and experience to translate complex information, patterns,
    and trends to make decisions.
        The Navy supports a three-tier academic certification program for
    civilians and Navy officers in response to their goal of ``integrating
    manned and unmanned systems and developing trust.'' The inaugural first
    tier certification had fifteen participants.
        Several research-intensive Mississippi universities have existing
    certification and degree programs as well as active oceanographic,
    hydrographic, or unmanned systems research engineering programs.
        The University of Southern Mississippi houses the School of Ocean
    Science and Technology (SOST). Nearly all of the SOST academic and
    research programs are on the coast spanning from Gulf Coast Research
    Laboratory in Jackson County to the Division of Marine Science's
    oceanographers and hydrographers at Stennis Space Center. The SOST will
    expand into a new Marine Research Facility at the Port of Gulfport
    where the Ocean Engineering program will be supported along with the
    large research vessel Point Sur's shore operations. The SOST offers
    degrees ranging from undergraduate degrees in Marine Science and Ocean
    Engineering, to master's degrees, including one of only two
    Hydrographic Science degrees in the nation, and doctoral degrees. The
    SOST research enterprise currently manages over $90M in contracts and
    grants in ocean engineering, oceanography, hydrography, fisheries,
    aquaculture and other fields. USM also has research and education
    programs in Computer Science and Engineering (Coast and Hattiesburg) as
    well as a world-renowned Polymer Science program in Hattiesburg.
        USM recently offered the Nation's only university-sponsored
    academic certification in Unmanned Maritime Systems. This inaugural
    class of 15 navy-sponsored students represented a rigorous curriculum
    designed to give decision-making skills to the navy warfighter when
    using UMS as an asset in ocean surveillance. USM and the Navy are
    developing a set of competencies that will expand the current Tier 1
    certification to more advanced Tier 2 and 3 certifications and degrees.
        In USM's School of Computing, advanced algorithms for big data
    analytics are being developed which, once validated, can provide the
    leading-edge technologies for handling the large amounts of data that
    are anticipated to be collected, processed, and analyzed in the
    implementation phase of the GOTF Master Plan.
        Mississippi State University (MSU) leads a wide range of research,
    service, and academic programs that support Mississippi's Blue Economy.
    The Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) offers undergraduate,
    master's, and doctoral degrees that support coastal industries,
    including Chevron, Ingalls, and industries at Stennis Space Center, as
    well as federal, state, and local government. Recently, the BCoE
    started classes at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College so students
    can earn either an electrical or a mechanical engineering degree from
    Mississippi State without leaving the Coast.
        MSU has a plethora of significant research programs on the Coast.
    The Northern Gulf Institute, led by MSU and co-led by USM, has its
    program office and 30 employees in the MSU Science and Technology
    Building at Stennis Space Center. The building also houses the
    Associate Director of the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through
    Research Excellence (ASSURE) and the FAA Center of Excellence for UAS.
    MSU leads the Mississippi-partnership recently chosen to direct the new
    Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Small Unmanned
    Aircraft Systems Demonstration Range Facility.
        The University of Mississippi is home to the National Center for
    Physical Acoustics (NCPA) with a 30-year history in developing novel
    sensor applications for a wide variety of problems, including
    underwater acoustics. Interpreting the signals received from these
    sensors is also an active field of study, specifically sub-bottom
    profiling and tomographic techniques for finding sub-surface features.
    NCPA works closely with the Department of Physics and School of
    Engineering to educate graduate students in cutting edge sensor and
    signal processing technologies to produce the next generation of
    scientists and engineers. Private sector partners have always played an
    important role in project development at NCPA which strives to
    transition bench-top research into deployable solutions.
        UM also has a long history of partnering with the University of
    Southern Mississippi in developing a variety of undersea vehicle
    technologies including integration of sensor platforms in vehicles,
    data storage, and exploration of the Gulf and beyond. Scientists from
    the National Center for Natural Products Research at UM have used these
    tools to explore undersea flora with unique potentially therapeutic
    compounds as a front line in novel drug development.
        Both Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Pearl River
    Community College play key roles in workforce training in technical
    career pathways through their existing programs. New programs to
    specifically address technical career opportunities in maritime systems
    should be developed as the GOTF Master Plan is implemented.
        + Recommendation: Define career UMS pathways from K12 through
    graduate studies.
        + Recommendation: Leverage NAVSEA lessons learned and best
    practices and implement internship and apprenticeship opportunities for
    UMS.
    Existing Skill Framework/Preliminary Workforce Analysis
        Interviews with NAVO CNMOC, NRL, and the UMS Certification Program
    Director yielded no recognized or widely accepted set of UxS standards
    or skill frameworks. The lack of historical experience in training and
    education specific for unmanned maritime systems, as compared to other
    disciplines and fields of practice, makes the task of preparing the
    workforce to support UxS with the relevant skills difficult.
        Some research suggests that the increased use and integration of
    remote and cyber platforms will have a dramatic impact on the approach
    to training and recruiting methodologies, which will need to include
    not only functional skills relevant to capabilities of UxS, but also
    the fundamentals of communication and information systems and values
    such as integrity, teamwork, dedication to strategic goals/mission, the
    ability to maintain confidentiality, and creative problem solving under
    pressure.
        In an effort to enhance the moral connectivity of remote operators,
    the U.S. Army developed The Human Dimension training concept, which
    posits the central importance of the moral, physical and cognitive
    components of the soldier in order to provide a balance to the tactile
    tools of war. The Human Dimension highlights the pre-eminent need for a
    human element for ethical decision making in the face of increasingly
    remote methods. Not only will future UxS training and education
    initiatives need to teach functional knowledge and advanced
    technologies, programs should include ethical considerations that
    prepare participants to confront multi-dimensional problems.
        Preliminary workforce analysis to determine current UxS education
    and workforce requirements revealed an increased manpower need in
    support of the Navy Shipbuilding Plan. While the increased manpower is
    not specifically for UxS, the increased workforce includes the need for
    UxS personnel. Forty-one percent of the increased manpower will be in
    the civilian and contractor workforce, with the remaining increase in
    Naval Operational Oceanography (23 percent), enlisted personnel (26
    percent) and officers (7 percent). Further analysis indicated that two-
    thirds of the current SSC NAVO workforce has at least a Bachelor's
    degree.
        A robust research-based, practitioner focused skill framework can
    provide the foundation to recruit, train and develop a UxS workforce
    that closely aligns with the needs of future jobs. The framework can
    identify the broad range of skills discussed above, as well as the
    required level of education and career paths. Skillsets will drive the
    recruitment and enlistment criteria to more closely reflect the needs
    of the jobs.
        + Recommendation: While the UxS field is growing with many self-
    taught experts and practitioners, there is a need to formalize training
    skills and standards in order to ensure a consistent level of
    capability.
        + Recommendation: As the UxS field of practice grows, the Learning
    & Development (L&D) function will play a critical role for industry
    growth. L&D must help organizations and regions drive business.
    Creation of a Strategy Map for Learning and Development of the UxS will
    help guide the future efforts of the training function.
    Gap:
        Need to match the workforce demands and present state-of-the art
    training and education for a growing range of applications.
        + Recommendation: Expand local infrastructure and develop
    collaborative opportunities to integrate and align the workforce with
    UMS future growth and development.
        + Recommendation: To achieve what the Navy references as high
    velocity learning at every level, determine the best concepts,
    techniques and technologies to accelerate learning at the individual,
    team and organizational levels.
        + Recommendation: Create a talent pipeline that allows people and
    technology to reach their full potential by accelerating the training
    and reskilling of people. Labor productivity, talent acquisition and
    retention, innovation, and creativity help to solidify a UxS talent
    pipeline.
        + Recommendation: Clearly define the career pathways for UxS and
    the competencies required along the career pathways.
    ENGINEERING CAPACITY
    Blue Economy in Mississippi
        Efforts to quantify the Blue Economy in Mississippi must focus on
    identifying and understanding those organizations--federal, state,
    university, and private industry--that support poorly categorized
    ocean-based projects and programs. For example, an engineering company
    working on systems and sensors to understand nearshore waves is
    categorized under ``professional engineering.'' All of the engineering
    companies in the State can be identified; however, identifying those
    working specifically in the maritime is a much harder task.
        + Recommendation: Form a diverse group of federal, state, academic,
    and private companies to work on furthering the Blue Economy sector as
    a whole. It will be important to know which organization is doing what,
    where they plan to go in the future, and how internal Mississippi
    assets can be applied to emerging needs. Sub-groups may be necessary to
    address specific topics, for example unmanned systems.
        For a recent request submitted to the Mississippi Enterprise for
    Technology (MSET), a week-long task that involved prior knowledge of
    local efforts and a cursory Internet search for companies revealed as
    many as 109 organizations working in the Blue Economy in the lower
    three counties.
        + Recommendation: An effort to fully compile similar information
    for the entire State should be initiated.
    Unmanned Systems
        For the purposes of the Governor's Ocean Task Force, the
    Engineering Capacity Work Group selected a promising sector as an
    example of what already exists in Mississippi and resonates with local
    federal, academic, and private entities--unmanned systems. This is an
    emerging technology that is extremely relevant to organizations in the
    State, such as the Navy and NOAA, which represent existing, internal
    markets for these systems and the information they provide.
        In understanding the engineering capacity associated with unmanned
    systems (UxS) in the State, not only must the system builders be
    considered, but also organizations that support the development/
    enhancement of the systems, data acquisition and handling, data
    analytics and product development, operations and maintenance, and
    communications providers. Infrastructure within the State to assist in
    UxS deployment, testing, evaluation, and use is also critical to
    document.
    Existing Capacity
        A catalog of Mississippi-based assets was compiled that relate to
    ocean-based UxS, whether the system is deployed underwater or on the
    water's surface, or is looking at the water from airborne or space-
    based platforms. Using customized ``Asset Sheets,'' organizations were
    cataloged according to how they support UxS--associated with systems,
    services, or infrastructure. Additionally, a list of Mississippi-based
    suppliers supporting the industry was compiled. These Asset Sheets
    provide details of how each asset is supporting UxS; similar sheets
    were collected for organizations that are not currently supporting UxS
    efforts, but have the capacity to do so. The information on these
    sheets, combined with information gleaned from discussions with UxS
    users, formed the basis for the information that follows.
        The review of organizations that support underwater and surface UxS
    systems identified the following:

       15 Federal agencies

       8 State agencies and universities

       50 Private Companies

        These 73 organizations provide the following types of support to
    UxS:

       Manufacture of space-based, airborne, and surface systems

       Operation and use of UxS to characterize coastal, national,
            and international waters

       Deployment and recovery of UxS in support of contracted and/
            or research projects

       Manufacture of ships capable of easily deploying underwater
            UxS

       Program/project management support

       Engineering expertise to design new UxS

       Incorporation on new sensors onboard UxS

       Research vessels and other ships available for UxS
            deployment

       Aircraft available for flying UxS

       Drone deployment to support environmental programs/projects

       Trainers to assist others in certification process for
            proper drone operation

       Expertise in the determination of drone use within
            commercial airspace

       Use of UxS during disaster response to re-survey shipping
            channels/navigation routes

       Restricted air space for the test of airborne systems

       Remote operation of underwater and surface-based UxS

       Programming of UxS for remote operation

       Manufacture of communication systems supporting UxS

       Laboratories to support post-deployment cleaning and prep of
            underwater/surface UxS

       Calibration of the instruments used in UxS repair and
            maintenance

       Manipulation of data received from UxS

       Software development to manipulate UxS data to address
            environmental characterizations and to prepare data for use in
            forecast models/predictions

       Quality assurance and metadata generation of UxS data

       Creation of databases for UxS data

       Data analysis to address various environmental issues and
            monitoring

       Creation of maps and other data products generated from UxS
            data

       Expertise in the use of UxS data collection to address
            various scientific, environmental, and military purposes

       Web-based access to data, maps and other data products
            created from or including UxS data

        Based on the review, Mississippi has a large number of assets--
    systems manufacturers, service providers, operators, human capital,
    technology support, training programs, etc.--that support UxS.
        Eighteen companies that currently do not support UxS, but have the
    capability to do so, were identified. Companies located in the State
    that are key participants in UxS include the following:

       BAE Systems

       Lockheed Martin

       Teledyne Marine

       Tyonek

        + Recommendation: Conduct a focused study on quantifying the Blue
    Economy in Mississippi. Results from this report indicated 73
    organizations involved in one sector of the Blue Economy. A
    comprehensive study of the Blue Economy is needed to understand its
    total contribution to the Mississippi economy.
    Gaps:
        Based on the data collected, three gaps were identified in
    Mississippi's UxS capacity. It is expected that similar gaps will be
    determined within other sectors.

       System maintenance and repair operations (MRO)--in general,
            organizations with UxS systems had to either assign staff to
            the repair and/or maintenance of hardware, or send them out to
            the original manufacturers located out-of-state.

       Sensor Calibration--many of the UxS are equipped with
            sensors to collect environmental data. Following their use, or
            a certain number of uses, they must be calibrated. Although the
            NASA Laboratories at Stennis can provide some of this support,
            most return their sensors to out-of-state manufacturers for
            calibration.

       Underwater/Surface System Test and Evaluation
            Infrastructure--as systems progress through the development
            process, they must be tested, verified, and validated.
            Mississippi has the infrastructure for the test and evaluation
            of airborne systems; however, no in-water infrastructure has
            been established.

        + Recommendation: Create a program to identify and recruit
    companies that would further advance Mississippi's Blue Economy. A
    number of companies have or are looking to re-locate given the expenses
    associated with traditional east and west coast areas.
        + Recommendation: Create focused marketing materials and incentives
    associated with Mississippi sites. Begin efforts with existing industry
    (BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Teledyne, Tyonek) or those that fill
    gaps in the current capacity.
        + Recommendation: Leverage the existing UxS capability to expand
    and create new assets. There is synergistic support for the creation of
    a test range in the Gulf Coast area. Mississippi has distinct
    advantages over other locations. For example, Mississippi is home to
    the largest fleet of underwater UxS operated from Navy groups at
    Stennis, and the coastal/nearshore environment provides access to all
    types of scenarios for testing.
        + Recommendation: Create a plan to use Singing River Island as a
    UxS Test Range Operating Station and designate rules and regulations
    for using coastal Mississippi waters for UxS testing, research, and
    operations.
    ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING
    Current Capabilities in Mississippi
        Advanced development and testing efforts related to the Blue
    Economy are currently taking place throughout the State, but are often
    very specific to a system, such as an aircraft with sensors that look
    down at the ocean or a new ship launched along the coast. In some
    cases, an organization procures any needed equipment for development
    and testing, which tends to be costly. It also results in a number of
    individual organizations spending project monies on the same types of
    equipment. Another solution to the problem is to contract the use of
    another organization's development and test equipment. This is
    currently difficult for several reasons--1., some equipment is not
    easily assessable (a Federal asset, for example). 2. There is also a
    lack of understanding on the assets available in the State and how to
    use them. 3. And finally, and as a result 2, development and testing
    elements are conducted out-of-State.
        + Recommendation: Form a diverse group of federal, state, academic,
    and private companies to work on furthering the Blue Economy sector as
    a whole. In addition to understanding which organization is doing what,
    specific emphasis needs to be on the identification of internal
    Mississippi assets and how they can be used by others.
        Proposed efforts to bring an incubator/accelerator focused on the
    development and test of new ideas in the Blue Economy have not been
    successful. As a result, ideas for new sensors and systems cannot be
    prototyped, modeled, or tested. In most areas where these sensors and
    systems are being successfully developed (San Diego/Massachusetts/
    Florida), there is a dedicated space supporting students,
    entrepreneurs, and hi-tech companies where not only can the equipment
    needed for prototyping and testing can be shared, but receive education
    on developing the business aspects of their technology.
        + Recommendation: Create an incubator/accelerator that is
    customized to support the hi-tech aspects of the Blue Economy. Ensure
    the infrastructure is conducive to Mississippi strengths, such as
    advanced materials and additive manufacturing. Accessibility by
    students of Mississippi universities is essential for furthering the
    productive development of small companies based on new and fresh ideas.
    Up-and-Coming Programs
        There are various types of Mississippi-based organizations that are
    currently working on, or have proposed, efforts that will drive the
    success of the Blue Economy in terms of technology advancement, reduced
    costs, increased accuracy and understanding, and efficiency. Some of
    these are Federal research laboratories, some are private companies
    with internal research and development efforts, and others are start-
    ups. Recent efforts in Federal programs such as DARPA, ONR, and NRL, as
    well as larger companies such as Huntington Ingalls and Shell, are
    focused on not only the development of new techniques or new
    applications of existing techniques, but the integration,
    interchangeability, and extensibility of systems to provide customized
    solutions to a number of scenarios. Challenges for these programs are
    all relatively consistent and are:

       Interoperability

       Autonomy

       Integration

       Communications

       Training

       Propulsion and Power

       Manned-Unmanned Issues

        For example, long-term Navy goals are focused on Manned-Unmanned
    (MUM) Teaming, where actions and reactions of all types of fleet forces
    can be optimized based on the specifics of a scenario to be addressed.
    This strategy requires much forethought during system design, with
    attention to open architectures in hardware and software components,
    interface standards, and even materials used. Intricacies of how
    systems will work together and developing rules of engagement are still
    a work-in-progress. A number of Mississippi assets exist that can be
    applied to the challenges facing programs like this.
        + Recommendation: Create programs that provide the expertise
    necessary to develop, test, operate, and understand the functionality
    of these systems and their use. In the case of the Navy's MUM Teaming
    goals, Mississippi has two universities, each with specific and
    relevant expertise of their own. Leveraging the curricula at the
    University of Southern Mississippi in underwater systems and
    Mississippi State University in aerial systems to form a cross-over
    educational experience would create globally unique program and
    position the State as a leader in the field.
        + Recommendation: Leverage current activities on Singing River
    Island to develop a comprehensive test and evaluation capability for
    UMS, whether aerial, surface, or underwater. Dedicate a building to
    house standardized tools, equipment, software, control stations, and
    other elements needed to fully support the deployment and assessment of
    these systems in a very-well-understood environment and within
    proximity to a variety of operational scenarios.
        + Recommendation: Using the previous two recommendations, position
    Mississippi as a leader for developing policy, rules of engagement, and
    operating procedures for interoperable UMS, including the use of
    multiple systems and multiple types of systems.
        + Recommendation: Create a mechanism or group to identify other
    examples of where Mississippi-based programs of excellence can be
    leveraged for the expansion of the State's Blue Economy. This might
    include shipbuilding, oil and gas, ocean monitoring/observing/
    forecasting, and others.
    Current Shortfalls
        In the Engineering Capacity Section of this document, 73
    organizations were identified that currently provide some type of
    direct support to UMS. The shortfalls identified in that Section are
    also relevant here, with emphasis on the need for an MRO capability.
    Adding this to the recommendations in the previous section will then
    provide a complete end-to-end support for UMS along the Mississippi
    coast.
        + Recommendation: Identify private entities that provide MRO
    services to aerial and underwater UMS and facilitate/expand their
    offices in Mississippi.
        + Recommendation: Create a program to identify and recruit
    companies that would further advance Mississippi's Blue Economy. A
    number of companies have or are looking to re-locate given the expenses
    associated with traditional east and west coast areas.
    APPLICATIONS
        To position the State of Mississippi as a leader in maritime
    technologies and ocean-based unmanned systems applications, the GOTF
    will develop a comprehensive assessment strategy and development plan
    for applications for maritime technologies and ocean-based unmanned
    systems within the State. The following focus areas have been
    identified as key drivers for success in this field:
    Technology, Systems, and Systems Integration
        Mississippi has significant assets for supporting aerial and spaced
    based remote sensing applications, as well as unmanned aerial, surface,
    and submersible vehicles. This includes government, industry and
    university assets and expertise related to multi and hyperspectral,
    LIDAR, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and other similar remote sensing
    sensor systems, image processing, data storage and processing, and
    decision support tools development and validation. The State and its
    Federal partners have also established both land and sea UAV flight
    zones.
        + Recommendation: Expand and enhance current -and establish new-
    aerial, surface, and subsea unmanned vehicle test ranges and their
    supporting infrastructure.
        + Recommendation: Develop and implement a methodology for
    identifying existing assets, expertise, and investments as well as
    tracking new developments for cataloging and reporting.
        Modern technology hardware is being designed as open and extensible
    platforms capable of acquiring accurate data almost anytime and
    anywhere. These hardware platforms have enormous application potential.
    The market for data about the physical world and about action occurring
    within the world is virtually limitless. Modern technology hardware is
    oft primarily associated with data collection. The market for
    applications that transform that data into usable information holds the
    potential for tremendous economic growth.
        + Recommendation: The focus on assets and expertise for the
    development of new technological hardware--especially unmanned and
    autonomous systems--should be primarily on design of data collection
    platforms with a ``connected'' architecture, allowing interface with
    cloud computing capabilities.
        + Recommendation: Attention on existing and developmental assets
    and capabilities should be focused on the integration between hardware
    and software so that data collected can be uploaded to the cloud,
    analyzed, and presented seamlessly in a usable format. Integrating the
    hardware and software systems designs will enable devices to garner
    their features from the software, allowing for updates with new
    abilities and improved performance parameters over the life of the
    hardware.
        + Recommendation: Effort should be made to ensure that hardware
    platforms across sea, air, and space technologies are developed with
    common architectures allowing for seamless systems communication and
    data integration across the platforms.
        + Recommendation: Prioritize the design of hardware and software
    technologies with integrated cyber security components. Additional
    research and development thrusts should be implemented to ensure
    systems security.
    Target Agencies and Industries for Support
        Mississippi has a robust ecosystem of existing industry and
    governmental agencies operating in the fields of marine and ocean
    sciences and technologies. To support this base, accelerate tech-based
    innovation, and grow the high-tech economy, a concerted effort should
    be undertaken to identify needed support and capabilities.
        + Recommendation: Conduct regular systematic reviews of agencies
    and report on:

       Technology Road Maps

       SBIR/STTR and similar technology development solicitations
            topic areas

       Federal labs mission statements and associated research
            focus areas.

        + Recommendation: Conduct regular systematic reviews of marine
    related industries and report on:

       Technology Road Maps where available

       Conferences related to applied technologies

       Trade journals and other publications

       Industry research groups.

        + Recommendation: Conduct interviews with key agency and industry
    leaders and technologists to better understand and verify problems and
    opportunities that may be addressed by technology applications
    development through state, federal, and industry joint partnerships.
        Creation of operational programs within the state to help address
    identified critical needs of target agencies and industries related to
    marine technology applications should be considered. Existing models in
    the high-performance materials (Mississippi Polymer Institute) and
    automotive industries (CAVS-E) have been implemented and have shown
    great success.
        + Recommendation: Establish joint agency/industry/state-university
    applied research development programs.
        + Recommendation: Support tech-based incubator programs and
    extension services aiding tech-startups and industry applied research
    projects.
        + Recommendation: Conduct regular conferences and meetings among
    agency/industry/state-university research and development
    organizations.
        + Recommendation: Explore R&D tax credits, applied R&D seed fund,
    and similar programs that may attract capital investment in marine-
    related applied research.
    Process for Verification and Validation of Novel Technologies for
            Operational Prototype
        To bring new technologies and advanced capabilities to fruition
    within the State, public and private partnerships can address
    identified applications themes in the marine and ocean sciences sectors
    through a robust process of verification and validation of novel
    products. The process will need to begin in the design phase; address
    both digital and physical product development and realization; and
    include complex system and network design and development across an
    integrated range of product platforms.
        + Recommendation: Establish a product innovation, development, and
    pilot production facility (such as USM's Accelerator) on the Gulf Coast
    to facilitate new product design and prototyping.
        + Recommendation: Expand existing and establish new physical
    environment test ranges in the gulf coast region.
        + Recommendation: Develop a digital proving ground of ultra-high
    resolution, precisely characterized geospatial information/data based
    on the physical test ranges for use in future systems prototype
    development and performance verification testing.
        + Recommendation: Utilize a collaborative research framework that
    leverages collective resources to accelerate development of new system
    prototypes.
        + Recommendation: Orchestrate a collective integration of expertise
    across university, industry, government, and non-profit (NOARC, MSET,
    etc.) where stakeholders all participate and all benefit from results.
    Valuation of Data Acquired through Applications
        The rapid proliferation of connected devices, sensors, and
    (Internet of) things has ushered in the era of big data, which holds
    tremendous potential for problem solving and applications development
    in various fields.
        + Recommendation: Identify university, state, and Federal resources
    focused on development of advanced algorithms for big data analytics to
    provide leading-edge technologies for handling the large amounts of
    data garnered by new technological platforms.
        + Recommendation: Focus resources on developing a methodology for
    high performance, real-time analytics with dynamic sampling and
    critical feature selection to evaluate the performance of various
    combinations of feature ranking/selection algorithms, clustering
    algorithms, sampling methods, and learning machines.
        + Recommendation: Conduct a comprehensive literature review by an
    interdisciplinary team that may lead to the finding of algorithms
    suitable for specific tasks. Subsequently, software development teams
    made up of university, industry, and Federal partners may be composed
    to undertake customized development projects capitalizing on the
    published algorithms and open-source software and leading to additional
    education and R&D opportunities to Mississippi communities.
    Applications for Existing Industry
        Several maritime-based industries within the State use remotely
    operated and autonomous unmanned systems, and other robotic
    instrumentation and sensors. The defense industry uses autonomous
    unmanned and remotely operated technology regularly. Other industries,
    such as oil and gas; ports and transportation; commercial fishing; and
    aquaculture have recently started to utilize autonomous and remotely
    operated systems. Many industries are looking to expand their
    investments in these technologies.
        Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are regularly used by the oil and
    gas industry. Examples include mapping of pipelines or inspecting wells
    and equipment. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being used for
    bathymetric data and sub bottom profiling. The use of waver gliders has
    been on the rise as battery life and propulsion systems improve. There
    is potential for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to replace surface
    ships as relays for tethered ROVs and AUVs.
        + Recommendation: Assess capacity within the State for development
    of new battery technologies and novel power sources/generators for
    unmanned systems.
        + Recommendation: Position or develop assets and infrastructure
    along the coast to encourage greater adoption of USVs for commercial
    applications, and subsequently implement incentives and recruiting
    strategies to grow the USV production capacity within the State.
        Ports, harbors, and maritime transportation have benefited from
    unmanned technology and sensor development. Technology that can benefit
    ports and harbors includes unmanned systems for detecting, tracking,
    and assessing threats. Vehicle automation can advance maritime
    transportation to complete operations in environments that are
    geopolitically or environmentally hazardous.
        + Recommendation: Assess capacity within the State for advanced
    vehicular automation technology development.
        + Recommendation: Develop a test range for verifying capabilities
    of ocean-based autonomous vehicles.
        The commercial fishing industry has recently started to utilize
    remotely operated technology. Fishermen often leverage the use of
    vessel monitoring systems mandated for compliance and enforcement in
    Federal fisheries for safety and data collection. Fish trackers and
    unmanned aerial systems operated from vessels that help target schools
    of fish and look for potential bycatch issues are used by commercial
    fleets.
        + Recommendation: Assess capacity within the State to develop
    technologies aiding selective fishing practices that help reduce
    bycatch and environmental impacts related to the commercial fishing
    industry.
        + Recommendation: Examine growth opportunities that include the
    ability to remotely monitor fishing and help protect the marine
    environment by aiding in the reduction of illegal, unregulated, and
    unreported fishing.
        Robotic equipment in aquaculture can both increase production and
    reduce diver intervention for routine maintenance. Augmented reality
    technologies for diver operations can aid communication and improve
    efficiency underwater.
        + Recommendation: Assess capacity within the State to develop
    autonomous cages that follow optimal ocean and atmospheric
    environmental conditions for aquaculture research and industrial
    development.
        + Recommendation: Determine existing capabilities related to
    augmented reality technologies and examine the potential for
    integration into existing and future applications.
        The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS)
    increasingly utilize unmanned systems. The U.S. Navy operates the
    largest fleet of unmanned systems in the country from Stennis Space
    Center. The DHS Science and Technology Directorate recently selected
    Mississippi as the new base of operations for small unmanned aircraft
    systems.
        + Recommendation: Leverage existing and develop new assets and
    capabilities in parallel with the directives generated by the Navy's
    Task Force Ocean.
        + Recommendation: Leverage existing and develop new assets and
    capabilities in parallel with the directives generated by DHS's
    expanding need for drone technologies.
    Identification of Relevant Ocean Applications
    Commercial Industry

       Commercial Exploration

         Offshore Drilling

         Survey and Seabed Mapping

         Pipeline/Cabling/Inspection

       Marine Fisheries

         Commercial and recreational fishing

         Commercial shellfish production/Mariculture--Offshore
                and Onshore

       Commercial shipping and Port and Harbor operations

         Ocean weather monitoring and prediction

         Security, Detection, and Inspection

         Navigation and Accident Investigation

       Coastal Restoration and Recovery

         Environmental engineering

         Coastal wetland plant production
    Scientific Research

       Seabed Mapping and Imaging

       Oceanographic Studies

       Environmental Research and Monitoring

       Pharmaceutical Research
    Defense

       ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance)

       Mine Countermeasures

       Anti-Submarine Warfare

       Defense logistics and Port and Harbor operations

         Ocean weather monitoring and prediction

         Security, Detection, and Inspection

         Navigation and Accident Investigation
    Miscellaneous

       Search and Rescue

       Marine Salvage and Debris Removal

       Marine Archaeology
    ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
        Mississippi is home to 15 ports situated along waterways throughout
    the state, including two deep-draft ocean ports along the Mississippi
    Gulf Coast in Gulfport and Pascagoula, making Mississippi a major
    competitor in ocean, maritime and marine-related technology industries.
    Beyond the coastline, an array of suppliers and technology companies
    support the maritime industry.
    Business Retention and Expansion Program
        A thorough and comprehensive business retention and expansion
    strategy will protect and grow Mississippi's existing ocean and
    maritime industries. Robust data on marine industry sectors needs to be
    gathered using state of the art survey tools and methods. Industry
    surveys must include sectors not traditionally thought of as maritime
    specific. The initial target company list should consist of major
    players within the ocean/maritime industry, in addition to blue
    technology companies, and focus on the Navy's Task Force Ocean Focus
    Areas: Sensing and observation; modeling and prediction; application
    and decision aids; human capital and technical workforce.
        + Recommendation: Develop a GOTF-specific business retention and
    expansion program:

       Partner with the Gulf Alliance to survey key industries and
            determine what policies and services will support their long-
            term viability and growth.

       Utilize survey results to identify current opportunities for
            growth, market constraints, and local obstacles. Throughout the
            process, the team will gather valuable insight into expansion
            opportunities, skill gaps, and competitive advantages that can
            be used in conjunction with real-life data.

       Examples of survey topics: permitting, both state and local;
            employment issues; utility issues; serving as a liaison to
            local, state and Federal officials; workforce issues;
            advocating on issues important to local industries and small
            businesses in the areas of transportation, regulations, and
            policy matters; identifying sites and buildings available for
            expanding business and industry; and coordination with existing
            businesses and industries to continue improving the business
            environment.
    Emerging Markets
        There are a number of emerging markets associated with the blue
    economy and blue-tech sectors. Examples of these include the increased
    use of unmanned systems for ocean sensing and forecasting, including
    handling of increasingly large datasets and their real-time
    interpretation; transportation; floating ports; and defense-related
    support. Enormous capacity exists in local federal, state, and private
    organizations to support unmanned systems development and testing,
    evaluation, utilization, and maintenance. To be successful, continuous
    understanding of advances in select, Mississippi-relevant markets is
    needed. Coordination of efforts across all types of organizations to
    strategically push these markets forward is essential to effectively
    capitalize on developing opportunities.
        + Recommendation: Identify emerging markets in the blue economy,
    specifically those markets that are synergistic to Mississippi
    capabilities.
        The Blue Economy is encumbered by a lack of reporting mechanisms--
    NAICS and SIC codes do not adequately separate organizations working in
    the Blue Economy. Therefore, a clear understanding of which engineering
    companies support maritime engineering, for example, is not going to be
    easily determined unless direct connections are made and maintained.
    The utilization of networking organizations (Innovate MS, MSET, MIST
    Cluster, etc.) to understand the capabilities of their members and
    their technological capabilities is essential to identifying
    Mississippi-based companies best able to address emerging
    opportunities. An organization such as this should also understand the
    actions of similar organizations across the Nation and internationally.
        + Recommendation: Create, or designate an existing, networking
    organization to facilitate interaction among blue economy/blue-tech
    companies in the State and remain current with ever-changing
    technologies.
        Efforts to identify and foster the development of emerging blue
    economy and blue-tech markets need to be further developed and
    supported. Technology incubators and accelerators provide physical
    environments where early-stage companies can be co-located with subject
    matter experts and where innovative thinkers can collaborate. The
    process of technology commercialization requires knowledge and
    understanding of the applications and market for the innovation. In
    Mississippi, there is a wealth of technology being developed and used;
    however, there is little to support entrepreneurs in terms of funding
    (angel and venture), or for verification, validation, and modification
    of an invention. The process should encourage partnering among
    government, industry, higher education, non-profit and private sector
    entities to stimulate a strong network of technology and innovation.
        + Recommendation: Create mechanisms to support and fund emerging
    markets, specifically using technology business incubators and
    accelerators.
    Competitive Advantage
        Understanding the State's current market position as compared to
    other states in the blue economy sector is essential to gaining and
    maintaining a competitive advantage.
        + Recommendation: Conduct an initial self-analysis of Mississippi's
    ocean, maritime, and related technology industries against competitive
    states to identify Mississippi's advantages and its gaps (SWOT).
        + Recommendation: Benchmark Mississippi against the states of
    Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, California, Washington,
    Massachusetts, and Maryland--all of which constitute a heavy Navy base
    and technology footprint, similar to Mississippi. This comparison would
    give Mississippi an opportunity review programs and resources that are
    publicly available against the State's offerings.

       Analysis should include workforce, available incentives,
            venture capital and private funding sources, state and Federal
            resources.

        + Recommendation: Upon finalization of the strategic plan,
    implementation should include funding sources to hire a consultant to
    conduct an industry survey of these items against identified
    competitive states.
        Research and development, both university and industrial, can
    create major advantages for the state. Research partnerships between
    university and industry provide additional value.
        + Recommendation: Create a catalog of current and potential
    partnerships to identify the impacts of those partnerships. This should
    include R&D dollars, employment, and potential expansion opportunities
    or new locations into the State.
        + Recommendation: Identify tax credit or incentive programs
    specifically tied to research and development and catalog against
    competing states.
        + Recommendation: Identify existing or create R&D tax credits
    specifically for university and industry partnerships.
    Testing
        Mississippi has a unique position in evaluation and testing of
    unmanned platforms including air, land, and marine--both surface and
    subsurface in all environments. The South Mississippi Training Complex,
    thanks to a huge military presence in Mississippi, is already ahead of
    other areas, especially being the FAA's Center of Excellence for
    unmanned integration into National Airspace. Mississippi State has now
    been granted a Certificate of Authorization (COA) for unmanned access
    to the Warning and Restricted Training areas over the Gulf of Mexico,
    which provides unlimited test access for ocean-based programs as well
    as air-to-surface testing.
        + Recommendation: Create, or designate an existing organization to
    manage and expand current test ranges; develop new ranges, and market
    the capabilities offered to national and international markets.
    Cluster Branding and Sales Plan
        A well-structured and consistent communication strategy is a key
    component to the implementation of the Oceans Task Force final plan.
    For a cluster management organization to stand out as a point of
    reference and be recognized for its unique assets, it must be well-
    branded and marketed. The marketing and branding strategy is a
    comprehensive process that begins with gathering and analyzing data,
    understanding assets and clearly defining a strategic mission. After
    this process is completed, the Governor's Ocean Task Force can begin to
    develop a communication and branding strategy and identify tools to
    reach the target audience.
        + Recommendation: Develop a cluster branding and sales plan focused
    on attracting both external and internal interest and resources that
    will support the strategic development of ocean science and maritime
    technologies along the Coast.
        + Recommendation: Add subject matter experts in cluster branding
    and marketing to this effort. At a baseline, the strategy should
    include the following elements:

       Clearly define roles and responsibilities of various
            agencies and organizations throughout the state.

       Develop a branding process that will be based on final
            vision of the study. This includes brand name, theme and
            consistent messaging.

       Develop a communications plan using multiple types of media
            (website, social media, print) that is targeted to sectors
            identified in the final plan.

       Integrate branding and marketing into the existing economic
            development infrastructure.

       Develop an implementation and coordination plan for ongoing
            sales activities.

       Identify events and activities that will provide for
            continuous dialogue from stakeholders, both internally and
            externally, creating a broad recognition and acceptance of the
            brand.

        + Recommendation: Leverage the extant SBA supported Marine
    Industries Science & Technology Cluster (MIST Cluster) as a baseline
    starting point for further cluster branding and development under an
    independent non-profit organizational structure.
    POLICY AND ETHICS
        Mississippi has a unique opportunity to become the leader in
    testing and advancing the Nation's next generation of Unmanned Maritime
    Systems. While there are numerous unmanned systems efforts ongoing in
    the United States, there is a lack of focus on underwater systems
    development. Mississippi is uniquely positioned to fill this void;
    however, as with any innovative technology there are legal and
    regulatory barriers that must be addressed to achieve desired goals.
        The legal and policy framework governing UMS activities is complex.
    On the Federal level, more than 20 agencies administer over 140 laws
    affecting ocean waters and resources. In Mississippi, three state
    agencies (Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Mississippi
    Secretary of State Office, and Mississippi Department of Environmental
    Quality) and associated Commissions implement a variety of coastal
    management and permitting programs. UMS activities occur in both state
    (0-3 nautical miles offshore) and Federal waters (3-200 nautical miles
    offshore). Additional complexities emerge as UMS seek interoperability
    across platforms and domains.
        Consider, for instance, the complexity surrounding the necessary
    environmental reviews for the Range. A review under the Federal
    National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is required for any major
    Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the environment.
    The NEPA review, which may include the preparation of an Environmental
    Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, is handled by the Federal
    agency controlling the project. Where multiple Federal agencies are
    involved--for example, where a project needs permits from different
    agencies--the regulations require that a Lead Agency be designated to
    prepare and issue the NEPA document. Federal agencies are permitted to
    hire contractors to prepare the required environmental documents, but
    the documents must be reviewed and issued by the Lead Agency. Several
    Federal agencies are in a position to be designated the lead agency,
    including the Navy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or the U.S. Coast
    Guard.
        On the state level, the Mississippi Coastal Program has not been
    formally revised since 1988. The Mississippi Coastal Program was
    legislatively mandated in Section 57-15-6 of the Mississippi Code and
    approved by NOAA under the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management
    Act (CZMA) on September 29, 1980. Implementation of the Mississippi
    Coastal Program is the primary responsibility of the Office of Coastal
    Resources within the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
    Mississippi has submitted program changes to the NOAA Office of Coastal
    Management since the last revision, but the Mississippi Coastal Program
    document has not been updated and re-issued, making it difficult for
    the regulated community to assess applicability to proposed activities.
        Furthermore, the legal status of UMS is unclear under both Federal
    and international law. Unlike UAVs, which the Department of Defense has
    classified as aircraft, UMS classification remains uncertain. Clear
    guidance has yet to be developed regarding which UMS should be
    considered vessels and additionally in the military context, warships
    and weapons. The classification of an UMS will impact how that UMS is
    treated under Federal and international law with respect to
    navigational rights such as innocent passage, collision regulations,
    and liability.
        + Recommendation: Update the Mississippi Coastal Program to include
    UMS operations and activities.
        There are also public policy and ethical issues surrounding the
    increased use of UMS in the Gulf of Mexico. Ethics, as used within this
    master plan, refers to standards of right and wrong in terms of the
    obligations that UMS developers and operators have to their employers,
    funders, partners, and the wider society. UMS activities may lead to
    collaborations between military, scientific, and private industry
    partners involving classified or confidential information, such as
    trade secrets or propriety data. Surveillance activities can raise
    privacy concerns. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are home to a
    variety of public and private activities including oil and gas
    development, commercial fishing, recreational fishing and boating, and
    aquaculture. Proponents of UMS activities must consider the competing
    uses of ocean space and the navigate a variety of user needs and
    demands.
        UMS activities should be undertaken in adherence to a maritime
    industry codes of conducts and best practices, in additional to
    applicable legal requirements. The UK Marine Industry Alliance, for
    example, developed an industry code of conduct for maritime autonomous
    systems. The U.S. Coast Guard's Navigation Safety Advisory Council
    Resolution 16-0 provides best practices for UMS. Certification and
    other educational programs for UMS should provide training on industry
    codes of conduct, best practices, and other ethical consideration
    related to scientific integrity, data management, and privacy
    requirements.
    Gap:
        The suite of state and Federal laws that relate to Unmanned
    Maritime Systems development, testing and application are expansive.
    There is currently no national center focusing on the legal, policy,
    and ethical issues surrounding the use of UMS, thereby limiting the
    resources that are available to assist Mississippi in developing a
    strategy that addresses existing or needed laws. There is a significant
    need for legal research and outreach activities to inform UMS policy
    development on the state, federal, and international levels. UMS legal
    research and outreach would also directly support the development of
    the UMS in industry by increasing stakeholder awareness of the existing
    legal framework governing their activities, facilitating stakeholder
    engagement, and informing law and policy reform efforts on the state
    and Federal level.
        + Recommendation: Provide funding support to establish the
    ``Mississippi Unmanned Maritime System Policy Center'' within the
    Mississippi Law Research Institute (MLRI) at the University of
    Mississippi School of Law. MLRI, established under Miss. Code Ann.
    Sec. 57-55-5, is the official advisory law revision, research, and
    reform agency of the state of Mississippi. MLRI's Ocean, Coastal,
    Natural Resources, and Environmental Research Group is a nationally
    recognized resource for ocean and coastal law, and is well-positioned
    to draw upon the diverse law and policy expertise of faculty and
    programs at the University of Mississippi, including the National
    Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law.
        + Recommendation: Develop a comprehensive inventory of state,
    federal, and international laws and regulations governing UMS
    activities and operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
        + Recommendation: Develop a series of policy documents to support
    future UMS activities in the Gulf of Mexico.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Mr. Bryant. Thank you, sir.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much, Governor Bryant.
        Mr. Conathan, we're delighted to have your testimony.
    Welcome.

                   STATEMENT OF MICHAEL J. CONATHAN,

                     EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN HIGH

                  SEAS INITIATIVE, THE ASPEN INSTITUTE

        Mr. Conathan. Well, thank you very much, Senator Wicker.
    Thank you, Senator Cantwell, and other Members of the
    Committee, and other staff of the Committee, including some of
    my former colleagues. It's a pleasure to be back. It's a bit of
    a homecoming of types for me and particularly to come and talk
    to you today on the topic of the Blue Economy.
        Today's hearing does represent a bit of a homecoming for
    me. I spent 5 years as a Republican staffer on this committee
    and while my current role is Executive Director of the new
    Aspen High Seas Initiative at the Aspen Institute, that means
    that my work now focuses more on the distant and deep ocean
    rather than on the domestic marine policy issues that were my
    daily work here in the Senate. As a coastal resident of Maine,
    where, by the way, Governor, we also have some pretty
    exceptional seafood and shipbuilding, and as the husband of a
    part-time commercial lobsterman, I remain deeply connected to
    all aspects of America's Blue Economy.
        The ocean is intimately connected to everyone on the
    planet, whether hauling pots on Casco Bay, hiking the snowy
    peaks of the Rocky Mountains, or traversing the Sahara Desert,
    and while I appreciate the optimism inherent in today's hearing
    title, before we can truly engage in a discussion of the
    successes and opportunities found in our Blue Economy, we must
    start first by establishing a common understanding of what it
    is we're talking about.
        In addition to my role at the Aspen Institute, I also chair
    the Board of Advisors to the Center for the Blue Economy at the
    Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and
    while there's no internationally-accepted definition of the
    Blue Economy, the CBE defines it as ``comprising the economic
    activities that create sustainable wealth from the world's
    oceans and coasts.''
        Other international organizations, such as the World Bank
    and the United Nations Development Program, also define the
    Blue Economy to include this critical component of
    sustainability. They include this term because sustainability
    is not just a buzzword. It's an imperative.
        Humanity has set our climate on the precipice of a
    catastrophic point of no return. We've decimated fish
    populations and put countless species, from microscopic
    plankton to the largest animals on the planet, like the North
    Atlantic right whale, at risk of extinction.
        We've turned the oceans' gyres into plastic soup and strewn
    waste from the poles to the depths of the Marianna Trench. If
    we continue this business as usual, if we fail to treat the
    system with an abundance of precaution, it won't just be our
    Blue Economy that will suffer in the long run, it will be our
    entire planetary economy.
        This is why we established the Aspen High Seas Initiative,
    to address the existential threats currently facing even the
    deepest remotest areas of the global ocean, our final
    conservation frontier.
        While people may conceptually understand that we live on an
    ocean planet, the ocean remains primarily out of sight and out
    of mind. Thus, our goals are to increase understanding of the
    global ocean, cultivate a new diverse set of ocean champions,
    and inspire world leaders and key decisionmakers to protect the
    high seas and the ocean at a global scale.
        To do this will require us to take advantage of an
    exponential increase in our capacity to acquire data. A 2017
    piece from the World Economic Forum asserted that we have
    collected more data on our oceans in the past 2 years than in
    the history of the planet.
        A blog piece in Scientific American further reported that
    NOAA's ocean sensors alone collect 20 million megabytes of data
    daily.
        But for this volume of information to actually mean
    anything, we must ramp up our ability to process, analyze, and
    understand what those data are telling us.
        Fortunately, we have partners, such as the World Economic
    Forum's Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and XPRIZE,
    who are diving in to assist, and the private sector's
    involvement will be critical in this effort.
        While there's sure to be a cost, the good news is there's
    plenty of room for the budget to grow. Annual funding for
    NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration increased to $42 million
    last year, yet that figure is still literally a rounding error
    compared to the multiple billions of dollars we spend on NASA's
    space exploration.
        No knock on space exploration but unlike what we're likely
    to find on our next space mission, I can give you a 100 percent
    guarantee that our ocean is absolutely teeming with alien life
    forms just waiting to be discovered.
        So protecting this marine biodiversity is central to an
    effort underway right now at the United Nations to negotiate a
    new treaty aimed at protecting biodiversity beyond national
    jurisdiction, that is, on the high seas. When complete, this
    treaty will provide a mechanism for establishing marine-
    protected areas on the high seas, among other key topics aimed
    at safeguarding these critical components of our last global
    commons.
        Science has shown that protecting 30 to 40 percent of the
    ocean will be necessary to safeguard biodiversity, preserve
    ecosystem services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities.
    Strongly protected areas allow fish to grow large and
    reproduce, protect important habitats, and have spillover
    effects that replenish fish stocks outside their boundaries.
        And the same technological advances that have led to our
    ocean data revolution can also provide the keys to enforcing
    restrictions against industrial fishing and illegal activity in
    these ocean parks.
        The ocean acts as the planet's lungs, producing half the
    oxygen we breathe and absorbing half the carbon dioxide we have
    pumped into the atmosphere. It acts as the planet's heart,
    circulating heat and nutrients around the globe, and it acts as
    the planet's liver and kidneys, absorbing and filtering our
    waste, and just like these internal organs and systems so
    critical to our bodies, we must take great care not to overtax
    these vital marine functions.
        To protect the health of our ocean and in turn our Blue
    Economy, we must, as the saying goes, first do no harm.
        The signs carried by students, the young people with the
    most to fear from the future of climate change, the signs they
    carried during the climate strike earlier this month were wise
    in their simplicity. There is no Planet B. There is no Ocean B.
    First do no harm.
        Once again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the invitation to
    be here today, and I look forward to answering any questions
    you may have.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Conathan follows:]

        Prepared Statement of Michael J. Conathan, Executive Director,
                Aspen High Seas Initiative, The Aspen Institute
        Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Cantwell, and members of the
    committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on this
    critical topic. Having formerly served for five years on the Republican
    staff of this committee's former subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere,
    Fisheries, and Coast Guard, first as a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow and then
    as Professional Staff, it is my great pleasure to appear before you
    today in my current capacity as Executive Director of the Aspen High
    Seas Initiative,\1\ a new program of the Aspen Institute focused on
    igniting awareness of the urgent need and inspiring action to protect
    the health of the High Seas at a global scale.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ Aspen High Seas Initiative homepage, available at: https://
    www.aspeninstitute.org/prog
    rams/high-seasinitiative/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I also serve as Chair of the Advisory Council to the Center for the
    Blue Economy (CBE), a program of the Middlebury Institute of
    International Studies at Monterey, a graduate-level education and
    research program with the mission to promote a sustainable ocean and
    coastal economy through leadership in research, analysis, and
    education. CBE defines the blue economy as distinct from the ocean
    economy insofar as it includes sustainability as an inherent
    principle.\2\ This makes the blue economy a subset of the ocean
    economy--where the latter may include all economic activity on and in
    the water as well as beneath the seabed, the former only accounts for
    economic activity that is environmentally sustainable and either
    benefits from or contributes to healthy oceans and coasts. For purposes
    of this testimony, therefore, reference to the blue economy will mean
    the portion of the ocean economy that meets these criteria.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ Center for the Blue Economy homepage available at: https://
    www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centersinitiatives/center-blue-
    economy
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Much of my past work, here for the committee and subsequently in my
    role as Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress,
    focused on management of the United States' ocean resources and our own
    blue economy. However, my current position with the Aspen High Seas
    Initiative has widened my focus to cover the two thirds of the global
    ocean--45 percent of Earth's surface--that comprises the High Seas, the
    area of the ocean beyond any single nation's jurisdiction. And while I
    recognize that this committee is primarily concerned with issues that
    affect the coastal economy of the United States, any discussion of the
    blue economy must begin by acknowledging that our ocean is singular,
    global, and an inextricable component of the system that allows all
    life to thrive here on Earth. In short, what happens in the ocean
    doesn't stay in the ocean.
        The ocean acts as the lungs of our planet, producing half the
    oxygen we breathe and absorbing half of the carbon dioxide humans have
    pumped into the atmosphere. It acts as the heart of our planet
    circulating heat and nutrients around the globe and ensuring our
    climate remains livable at all latitudes. And it acts as our liver and
    kidneys, filtering and absorbing waste. Just like in our bodies, we
    must take great care not to over tax these systems lest we put them at
    risk of breaking down.
        When we think about the blue economy, we must first think in
    broader terms. If our respiratory, circulatory, and waste filtration
    systems fail, our entire life support system fails. And so, to extend
    the metaphor, we must think in terms of a Hippocratic Oath for the
    ocean: First, do no harm.
        Today's hearing title focuses our attention on the ``successes and
    opportunities'' related to the blue economy. My testimony will be
    divided into three sections. The first section will discuss the need to
    define and measure the economic drivers and fundamental ecosystem
    science in the ocean and our coastal regions. This knowledge gap is a
    fundamental hurdle we must clear if we are to account for and
    ultimately grow the blue economy. The second section will include an
    overview of some of the threats to the health of our ocean and coasts
    that we must minimize for the sake of our economic and existential
    future. These threats must necessarily begin with carbon pollution and
    our changing climate, proceed to the potential negative impacts of
    offshore oil and gas development, and to overfishing and unsustainable
    aquaculture. Then, with a fuller understanding of what we do and don't
    know about these threats, we can move to a discussion of what we're
    doing well and opportunities to maximize our return and minimize harm.
        Ultimately, America's future, and indeed the world's, is
    irrevocably tied to the health of our ocean. Fifty years ago this past
    Christmas Eve, three American astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission became
    the first humans to orbit the moon. As they circled back around from
    the dark side, William Anders spotted our home planet seeming to
    ``rise'' above the moon's desolate gray surface. He scrambled for the
    mission camera, loaded a roll of color film, and snapped what has been
    called ``the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.''
        That image, ``Earthrise'' (figure 1), showed the world two
    fundamental truths that Anders and his fellow astronauts grasped
    immediately. First, that Earth is a blue planet--it's one thing to
    understand intellectually that 70 percent of its surface is covered
    with seawater; it's another for us as creatures of the land to see it
    captured on film. And second, the immense fragility of our existence on
    this blue marble, wrapped delicately in an atmosphere as thin as the
    skin on an apple.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Figure 1: ``Earthrise'' Image credit: NASA.

        Earth's ocean is unique in the known universe. It is the single
    most vital building block for life and ensures that our planet remains
    habitable. It is, quite simply irreplaceable and fundamental to our
    very existence. The more we research and explore, the more we
    understand how human activity is putting our planetary life support
    system at risk. And now that we know, there is only one responsible
    choice: We must reduce our footprint, wean ourselves off the
    destructive behaviors. Humanity has set our climate on the verge of a
    catastrophic point of no return, decimated fish populations and put
    countless species--from microscopic plankton to the largest animals on
    the planet--at risk of extinction and turned the ocean's gyres into
    plastic soup and strewn waste from the poles to the depths of the
    Marina Trench. If we fail to treat this system with an abundance of
    precaution, it won't just be our blue economy that will suffer in the
    long run; it will be our entire planetary economy.
        As this discussion moves into what the blue economy is, how we
    measure it, and the threats and ultimately opportunities it presents
    for us, we must not lose our grip on this image, and what it represents
    for all of humanity. Earth is our one functional spaceship in the
    otherwise hostile lifelessness of space. Everything we do must be with
    an eye toward protecting our planetary life support system. As
    recognized in the one universal truth broadcast on signs held by
    inspirational young climate protestors around the world just ten days
    ago during the Youth Climate Strike: There is No Planet B.
    Defining and Measuring the Blue Economy
        This discussion must begin by calling out an important distinction
    between two terms that are often used interchangeably: the ocean
    economy and the blue economy. Both lack widely agreed upon and applied
    definitions, but the most common distinction made is that the ocean
    economy is comprised of all activities in the ocean that generate
    economic activity. The National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP)--which
    was initially established under the auspices of the National Oceanic
    and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)--measures ocean-related
    employment, wages, and gross domestic product contributions from Bureau
    of Labor Statistics data in the construction, living resources,
    minerals, ship and boat building, tourism and recreation, and
    transportation sectors.\3\ This database is now housed at the CBE.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \3\ National Ocean Economics Program. Available at: http://
    www.oceaneconomics.org/Market/ocean/oceanEcon.asp
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Meanwhile the blue economy includes an element of sustainability.
    CBE defines the blue economy as comprising ``the economic activities
    that create sustainable wealth from the world's oceans and coasts.''
    \4\ Again, note the inclusion of principles of sustainability. Like the
    Center for the Blue Economy, the World Bank defines the blue economy to
    include an element of sustainability (see infographic below),
    clarifying that it is ``sustainable use of ocean resources for economic
    growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health''
    (figure 2). The United Nations Development Program also adheres to this
    sustainability element in its definition of the blue economy, calling
    it ``the utilization of ocean resources for human benefit in a manner
    that sustains the overall ocean resource base into perpetuity.'' \5\
    Similar definitions with an inherent sustainability component can be
    found in other UN bodies,\6\ and throughout the current scope of
    literature on the topic. By these definitions, activities such as oil
    and gas extraction or sand and gravel mining which are accounted for in
    the ocean economy should not be thought of as part of the blue economy.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \4\ Center for the Blue Economy homepage available at: https://
    www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centersinitiatives/center-blue-
    economy
        \5\ Hudson, Andrew, ``Blue Economy: a sustainable ocean paradigm,''
    United Nations Development Programme, 26 November 2018. Available at:
    http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2018/blue-
    economysustainable-ocean-economic-paradigm.html
        \6\ United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ``Oceans
    Economy and Fisheries.'' undated. Available at: https://unctad.org/en/
    Pages/DITC/Trade-and-Environment/Oceans-Economy.aspx
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Figure 2: Image credit: World Bank Group.

        As such, when we talk about the blue economy, the focus should be
    on industries that either contribute to or are dependent on healthy
    ocean and coastal ecosystems. These include such sectors as sustainably
    managed commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism and other low
    impact forms of ocean and coastal recreation, offshore renewable energy
    development, and coastal resilience and restoration activities. It
    necessarily excludes such activities as offshore oil and gas
    exploration and development, sand and gravel or deep seabed mining,
    some higher-risk forms of open water aquaculture, and other extractive
    industries.
        With a definition of the blue economy in hand, the next step must
    be accumulating enough tools and methodologies to measure its size,
    scope, and influence. Yet our tools for carrying out this critical
    mission remain woefully inadequate, even compared to other economic
    sectors in the United States. For example, the U.S. Department of
    Agriculture operates an Economic Research Service (ERS), with a stated
    mission to ``anticipate trends and emerging issues in agriculture,
    food, the environment, and rural America and to conduct high-quality,
    objective economic research to inform and enhance public and private
    decision making.'' \7\ ERS's annual budget has averaged approximately
    $86 million over the past three years.\8\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \7\ United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research
    Service, ``About ERS,'' undated. Available at: https://
    www.ers.usda.gov/about-ers/
        \8\ FY2019 President's Budget Request: Economic Research Service,
    see page 16-2. Available at: https://www.obpa.usda.gov/
    16ers2019notes.pdf
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        By comparison, there is no entity charged with a similar mission
    for the ocean or blue economy, and NOAA's total annual investment in
    this area is estimated to be less than $1 million. Yet collectively,
    the U.S. ocean economy, to the extent we are able to measure it, is
    estimated to provide 3.1 million jobs, more than the crop production,
    telecommunications, and building construction sectors combined (figure
    3), and this is likely a lowball conjecture.
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Figure 3: Image credit--NOAA Office for Coastal Management

        NOAA is currently amid a 2-year process to develop the first ocean
    economy satellite account through a new program called Economics:
    National Ocean Watch (ENOW).\9\ This program will track statistics
    across six sectors of activity in the ocean economy, including living
    resources, marine construction, marine transportation, offshore mineral
    extraction, ship and boat building and tourism and recreation. While
    this effort will begin to provide some foundational accounting for the
    scope of the ocean economy, it still will fall short of analysis of the
    blue economy with its inherent sustainability component. And if we fail
    to measure sustainability in our blue economy today, we will inevitably
    fail to predict what it will be tomorrow.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \9\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for
    Coastal Management, Digital Coast, ``Economics: National Ocean Watch,''
    undated. Available at: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/
    enow.html
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Chronic underinvestment in ocean science and economics hampers our
            understanding
        This lack of economic measure is critical, as we cannot manage what
    we do not understand, nor can we understand what we do not measure.
    This need for greater understanding extends beyond economics to the
    world of ocean science as well. A common trope in ocean circles is the
    truism that we have higher quality maps of the surface of Mars and the
    moon than we do of the ocean floor. This is largely because we can map
    celestial bodies without the pesky visual interference that seawater
    presents to imaging, but it is also telling that we have invested far
    more resources and effort into finding answers to the mysteries of our
    nearest celestial neighbors than we have in solving the riddles of our
    own deep ocean. This shortcoming is particularly notable in areas of
    the High Seas, the ocean beyond any one nation's jurisdiction. NOAA
    estimates that less than ten percent of the global ocean has been
    mapped using modern sonar technology, while in U.S. waters, that number
    is closer to 35 percent.\10\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \10\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National
    Ocean Service, ``How Much of the Ocean Have We Explored?'' undated.
    Available at: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Even as our industrial activity expands into the most remote and
    unexplored regions of our ocean, we are spending exponentially more on
    space exploration than investigation of the undiscovered regions of our
    home planet. A 2013 analysis I conducted in my previous role as
    Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American progress found that
    NASA's space exploration budget out-classed NOAA's ocean exploration
    budget by a mind-boggling ratio of roughly 150 dollars to one.\11\
    Twelve people have set foot on the surface of the moon while only three
    have traveled to the Challenger Deep at the bottom of the ocean's
    deepest point, the Mariana Trench. And while we have yet to find life
    or other resources in our interstellar exploration that could prove
    economically recoverable, our ocean continues to be a treasure trove of
    new life and remarkable discoveries. Some estimates are that our ocean
    could still hold millions of species that have never been seen or
    catalogued.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \11\ Conathan, Michael, ``Rockets Top Submarines: Space Exploration
    Dollars Dwarf Ocean Spending,'' Center for American Progress, 18 June
    2013. Available at: https://www.ameri
    canprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/06/18/66956/rockets-top-
    submarines-spaceexploration
    -dollars-dwarf-ocean-spending/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The species discovered in these regions are not just scientific
    curiosities. As they have in countless instances before, newly
    discovered marine organisms will provide us with new products,
    medicines, materials, or inspiration for technologies that could pay
    unimaginable dividends in any number of ways that benefit human
    wellbeing. They also may hold keys to greater understanding of the
    ocean's role in the carbon cycle or prove to be pivotal links in the
    ocean food web. This incredible marine genetic diversity can also
    provide an insurance policy against environmental disruption, as it
    offers pathways for evolution. And we need only imagine the great
    technological and biomedical benefits of understanding how life has
    adapted in millions of amazing ways to some of the harshest
    environments on planet Earth. The more we know about the interplay of
    life, the less likely we are to take yet another misstep and
    inadvertently disrupt important ecosystem services.
        Meanwhile, we do know enough already to understand that human
    activities pose significant threats to the future health of the world's
    ocean, the U.S. exclusive economic zone, and our coastal regions. We
    must now take inventory of these threats before we can talk about our
    successes or consider opportunities to mitigate and minimize them.
    Threats to Ocean Health and the Blue Economy
        There are numerous threats to ocean and coastal ecosystem health
    that impact our blue economy, but I will focus on the top priorities:
    climate change, offshore oil and gas development, overfishing and
    illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, and poorly planned
    aquaculture operations.
    Climate change
        We cannot have a conversation about the blue economy and the future
    of our ocean without addressing the existential environmental challenge
    of our time: global climate change. While a full accounting of the
    irrefutable science establishing the reality of a changing climate is
    beyond the scope of this testimony, we know that human-caused
    greenhouse gas emissions are fueling increases in extreme weather
    events, threatening coastal communities with sea-level rise and salt
    water intrusion, harming marine life with warming and acidifying
    waters, and bleaching coral reefs with alarming rapidity. To set the
    economic tone for what climate change could cost the U.S. economy in
    general, we can turn to the fourth National Climate Assessment that the
    Trump administration released in November 2018. This report suggested
    that climate change could reduce the overall economy by 10 percent by
    the end of this century,\12\ including $140 billion from the loss of
    recreational opportunities due to harm to coral reef ecosystems
    alone.\13\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \12\ Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II: Impacts, Risks,
    and Adaptation in the United States, undated. Available at: https://
    nca2018.globalchange.gov/
        \13\ Fourth National Climate Assessment, Chapter 9: Oceans and
    Marine Resources. Undated. Available at: https://
    nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/9/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In its summary on the implications for oceans and coasts, the
    report states in part:

            Rising water temperatures, ocean acidification, retreating
            arctic sea ice, sea level rise, high-tide flooding, coastal
            erosion, higher storm surge, and heavier precipitation events
            threaten our oceans and coasts. These effects are projected to
            continue, putting ocean and marine species at risk, decreasing
            the productivity of certain fisheries, and threatening
            communities that rely on marine ecosystems for livelihoods and
            recreation, with particular impacts on fishing communities in
            Hawai`i and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands, the U.S.
            Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Lasting damage to coastal
            property and infrastructure driven by sea level rise and storm
            surge is expected to lead to financial losses for individuals,
            businesses, and communities, with the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
            facing above-average risks. Impacts on coastal energy and
            transportation infrastructure driven by sea level rise and
            storm surge have the potential for cascading costs and
            disruptions across the country. Even if significant emissions
            reductions occur, many of the effects from sea level rise over
            this century--and particularly through mid-century--are already
            locked in due to historical emissions, and many communities are
            already dealing with the consequences.\14\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \14\ Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II: Impacts, Risks,
    and Adaptation in the United States, undated. Available at: https://
    nca2018.globalchange.gov/

        The implications of documented changes in ocean ecosystems are
    already proving harmful. In 2012, for example, when the Gulf of Maine
    was hit with an ``ocean heat wave.'' \15\ As a result, lobsters
    migrated to inshore waters three weeks earlier than expected, leading
    to a supply glut as processors were not prepared to buy product in the
    volume that was available, and prices plummeted to their lowest level
    in 18 years.\16\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \15\ Pershing, Andrew J., et al., ``Fisheries Management in a
    Changing Climate: Lessons from the 2012 Ocean Heat Wave in the
    Northwest Atlantic,'' Oceanography, 2 October 2015. Available at:
    https://tos.org/oceanography/article/fisheries-management-in-a-
    changing-climate-les
    sonsfrom-the-2012-oceanheat-
        \16\ Trotter, Bill, ``2012 Maine lobster catch increases by 18
    percent, but price continues to decline,'' Bangor Daily News, 4 January
    2013. Available at: https://bangordailynews.com/2013/01/04/news/
    hancock/2012-maine-lobsterlandings-leap-18-percent-but-price-continues-
    to-decline/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        No region of the country is immune from these effects. From heat
    waves and drought to the hurricanes and unprecedented torrential
    rainfall events like the 60 inches of rain that fell on parts of
    Houston, Texas during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the effects of our
    warming climate are wreaking havoc throughout our country and around
    the globe, and the economic impacts are already adding up. And this is
    only the beginning.
        In the last five years, the frequency of extreme weather events
    causing over $1 billion in damages has doubled. In 2018 alone, the U.S.
    was hit with 14 separate billion-dollar disasters, fueled by climate
    change, that took 247 lives and collectively inflicted $91 billion in
    damages. Still, this figure is less than a third the cost of the prior
    year, when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria combined to cause over
    $300 billion in damages.\17\ The impacts are real, the causes are
    becoming clearer with every new study, and it is without question the
    number one threat to our blue economy.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \17\ Dennis, Brady and Mooney, Chris, ``Wildfires, hurricanes, and
    other extreme weather events cost the Nation 247 lives, nearly $100
    billion in damages during 2018,'' The Washington Post, 6 February 2019.
    Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/
    02/06/wildfires-hurricanes-other-extremeweather-cost-nation-lives-
    nearly-billion-damage-during/?utm_term=.840b8aacb120
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Offshore oil & gas development
        Of course, the ultimate source of carbon and other greenhouse gas
    emissions is the world's thirst for fossil fuels. And in addition to
    carbon pollution, offshore oil and gas drilling also causes more direct
    impacts to ocean and coastal ecosystems from drilling, extraction, and
    transportation.
        Thirty years ago this week, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground
    in Alaska's Prince William Sound and dumped 11 million gallons of crude
    oil into what had been one of our most unsullied marine wildernesses.
    Though the direct costs of clean up and damages ran into the billions
    of dollars, the economic ramifications of that one incident are still
    being felt with toxic oil still spoiling areas of the Sound, and the
    region's herring fishery has yet to return to commercial viability
    following what was at the time the largest oil spill in American
    history.
        Of course, all records are made to be broken, and next year will
    mark the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy that unseated the Exxon
    Valdez for that infamous title, by gushing nearly 170 million gallons
    of crude from beneath the seabed into the Gulf of Mexico. I was serving
    as a Republican Professional Staff member on this committee at the time
    of that disaster, and I toured the region with the U.S. Coast Guard in
    the weeks after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon
    drilling rig that cost 11 men their lives and started that gusher that
    spewed oil unchecked into the Gulf for 87 days.
        Often, industrial activities in our ocean suffer from an ``out of
    sight, out of mind'' mentality: if we don't see it, it must not have a
    negative effect. In this case, I saw the massive harm done by BP and
    Halliburton's carelessness, and I will never forget the smell of oil
    burning on the ocean surface, images of sludge sloshing in the
    Louisiana marsh grasses, or the shrimp boats and other fishing vessels
    pressed into duty as impromptu skimmers in a futile attempt to clean up
    that unmitigated disaster.
        These offshore oil and gas disasters harm commercial fisheries,
    aquaculture, tourism, recreational fishing, boating, and numerous other
    industries that, when carried out in a sustainable manner, contribute
    immensely to our blue economy and can foster economic wellbeing
    indefinitely. The irresponsible drilling and expansion of drilling into
    new areas for short term economic gain puts into our principle in a way
    that is unacceptable for long term wellbeing of our Nation.
        While offshore energy development is obviously important to some
    coastal regions, its harmful effect on other coastal industries must be
    accounted for. Furthermore, some coastal areas are proving the value of
    pivoting to offshore renewable energy development. In 2016, Rhode
    Island began producing electricity at the Nation's first offshore wind
    farm in state waters near Block Island. And Rhode Island and
    Massachusetts are now poised to follow suit with plans to build an 800-
    megawatt offshore wind farm south of Martha's Vineyard. This project
    was approved following a lengthy negotiation with other stakeholders in
    the region, including the commercial fishing industry proving that
    these two uses of coastal space are not mutually exclusive.
    Overfishing and illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing
        Thanks to the efforts of this committee and many others involved in
    the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
    Management Act in 2006, the United States is now viewed as a world
    leader in fisheries sustainability. Under the auspices of this law, 44
    stocks have been rebuilt and removed from the ``overfished'' list as of
    2017, and overfishing was not occurring on 91 percent of U.S. fish
    stocks.\18\ We should be proud of this achievement and maintain the
    policies that have allowed us to take this leadership role.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \18\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National
    Marine Fisheries Service, ``2017 Report to Congress on the Status of
    U.S. Fisheries,'' undated. Available at: https://
    www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/2017-reportcongress-status-us-fisheries
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Yet, overfishing is still occurring in other parts of the world,
    including in the EEZs of other nations with less stringent regulations
    and enforcement regimes, often due to limited capacity. NOAA estimates
    that roughly 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported
    from other countries. That means if we want to support sustainable
    seafood, we must promote consumption of domestic product and strive to
    improve management among our trade partners. It will require a greater
    global investment in fisheries monitoring, research, and reporting in
    both the commercial and recreational sectors. It will also require an
    increased commitment by this Nation and other great consumers of
    seafood to import only verified sustainable seafood from abroad. Doing
    so will ultimately pay dividends in the form of global fisheries that
    continue to provide economic returns and food security in perpetuity.
        Overfishing also continues on the High Seas, an area where the U.S.
    can have significant influence. As individual nations have permitted
    overfishing in their exclusive economic zones leading to precipitous
    fish population declines, fishermen have been incentivized to travel
    further from shore and in many cases have moved into the High Seas.
    Here fisheries are managed by international agreement centered around
    Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs). These RFMOs must
    operate by consensus among countries whose delegations are often
    heavily influenced by their industries, and their science branches are
    often insufficiently funded to carry out the research necessary to set
    sustainable catch limits. The U.S. can play a constructive role in
    advocating for stronger science and stricter limits by RFMOs to prevent
    overfishing.
        In addition, the economics of most High Seas fishing operations
    don't add up, pushing operators into illegal activity. To counter the
    increased cost of operating further from shore and still turn a profit,
    operators in some fisheries have taken advantage of the remote nature
    of what is effectively a lawless Wild West, far from any enforcement
    authority. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
    estimates that illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing activity
    affects ``one in every five fish caught, with an annual cost of up to
    $23 billion.'' \19\ And the illegal activity doesn't stop with fishing.
    Operations from several countries have recently been found to rely on
    forced labor (i.e., human slavery) and other egregious human rights
    abuses, including murder. These activities are often carried out on
    vessels that spend years on end at sea, out of sight or reach of
    regulators and law enforcement, providing no opportunity for escape or
    relief for enslaved workers. The vessels are resupplied by mother ships
    that take on the catch from these modern-day slave ships and mingle it
    with legally caught fish so that by the time the catch is brought in to
    shore it's impossible to tell the clean fish from the dirty. Fishing
    vessels provide easy vectors for human trafficking as well as trade in
    drugs, arms, and other illegal activity, particularly in the remote
    High Seas.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \19\ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
    ``Growing Momentum to Close the Net on Illegal Fishing,'' 5 June 2018.
    Available at: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1137863/icode/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Adding economic insult to environmental injury and this ongoing
    abhorrent human rights tragedy, a 2018 report published in the journal
    Science, found that ``54 percent of the present high seas fishing
    grounds would be unprofitable at current fishing rates'' absent the
    abundant government subsidies that many fishing nations provide to
    their fleets operating on the High Seas. In effect, countries are
    paying their fishermen to put future generations out of business rather
    than investing in the research and knowledge that will allow this
    natural system to function and continue to provide benefits for
    generations to come.
        The World Trade Organization has promised to make progress on the
    issue of harmful fishing subsidies at their 2019 Ministerial Conference
    with an eye toward achieving a key target of the UN Sustainable
    Development Goal 14: on Life Below Water.\20\ Making progress on
    subsidies would address a host of environmental and human rights issues
    that harm our blue economy, and U.S. fishermen's ability to fish
    sustainably in our own waters and beyond.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \20\ World Trade Organization, ``Negotiations on Fisheries
    Subsidies,'' undated. Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/
    tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Poorly planned aquaculture operations
        Aquaculture is often regarded as an opportunity to reduce pressure
    on wild capture fisheries, while continuing to provide healthy food to
    a growing world population with a relatively smaller carbon footprint
    than other forms of animal protein. However, all too often aquaculture
    operations are subject to lax oversight and poor regulation,
    particularly abroad, that inflict significant damage on ocean and
    coastal ecosystems and economies. Furthermore, because many farmed fish
    must subsist on a diet that includes wild-caught fish, it can
    exacerbate the overfishing problem rather than relieving the pressure
    on wild stocks.
        For example, in 2017, as many as 263,000 Atlantic salmon escaped
    from net pens legally permitted to operate in Washington's Puget Sound.
    There is concern among some scientists that these fish, which are non-
    native to the Pacific, could weaken the Pacific northwest's robust
    wild, native populations, either by outcompeting native species for
    resources or by transmission of disease. Several of the fish that were
    recaptured and turned over to Washington Fish and Game officials have
    tested positive for an ``exotic strain of piscine ortheovirus,''
    according to a report from the Seattle Times.\21\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \21\ Mapes, Linda V., ``800,000 More Farmed Atlantic Salmon Coming
    to Puget Sound before industry's permits expire,'' Seattle Times, 29
    August 2018. Available at: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/
    environment/800000-more-farmed-atlantic-salmon-coming-to-puget-sound-
    before-industrys-permitsexpire/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Also of concern is the amount of wild capture fish that is required
    to feed farmed carnivorous fish such as salmon and shrimp. Rates of
    wild capture fish required to feed farmed fish are coming down in
    general due to the incorporation of additional plant-based and
    alternative feeds such as soy and algae. According to the international
    Marine Ingredients Organization also known as IFFO, the so-called
    ``fish in/fish out'' ratio is now down to 0.22 meaning it takes on
    average 0.22 kilograms of wild fish to produce 1 kilogram of farmed
    fish. However, as aquaculture production increases, the overall amount
    of wild fish required will necessarily increase.
        The fish used in aquaculture feed are low economic value, high
    volume fish such as menhaden, or even species lower down on the food
    chain such as Antarctic krill. Yet when these creatures are removed
    from the ocean food web in massive quantities, the cascading effects of
    food scarcity on other ocean populations can be significant. As a
    result, in the Mid-Atlantic and New England, many commercial fishing
    groups have joined with environmental organizations in arguing for
    reduced catch limits on menhaden because they rightly fear that
    removing too many of these so-called ``forage fish'' from the ecosystem
    will have negative long-term ramifications for their target species,
    including high-value tuna and swordfish, among others.
        Aquaculture can help solve both our seafood trade deficit and our
    need to produce low-carbon intensive, healthy protein to feed a growing
    global population, but it must be sited, permitted, and carried out in
    a manner that does not inflict additional pressure on already stressed
    and damaged ocean ecosystems. Multi-trophic aquaculture, where famers
    grow seaweed, shellfish, and finfish together can help mitigate impacts
    from fish farming, and actually include environmental benefits.
    Likewise, closed loop aquaculture, primarily of fish that subsist on a
    vegetarian diet, and which takes place in shoreside facilities where
    inputs and outputs can be controlled also presents an opportunity for
    aquaculture to be a net benefit.
    Supporting a Healthy Ocean and a Robust Blue Economy
        Even with these serious threats, the future for our blue economy
    can indeed be full of successes and opportunities, and America is
    poised to continue leading the world toward a future of healthy
    productivity for our ocean and coasts. While some recent decisions and
    actions by the current administration have halted progress we made
    earlier in this century, it's not too late to reverse course and take
    the necessary steps to protect our Nation's and the world's greatest
    natural asset. Here is an agenda that can help set the tone for a new
    era of ocean sustainability and strong growth of the blue economy.
    Support strong United Nations action
        Two days ago, the United Nations kicked off the second of four
    planned rounds of negotiations on a new treaty to manage biodiversity
    beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). Once completed, this new
    agreement, developed under the auspices of the United Nations
    Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), will for the first time
    establish a mechanism for the international community to prioritize a
    holistic approach to the world's deep and remote ocean ecosystems. It
    contains four major components: 1) creating a mechanism to establish,
    manage, and enforce marine protected areas on the High Seas; 2) set a
    process for conducting environmental impact assessments for High Seas
    activities; 3) develop a management regimen for marine genetic
    resources of the High Seas; and 4) create an agreement on technology
    transfer and intellectual property among developed and less developed
    countries.
        The first step the United States can take to ensure a positive
    outcome from this process is to at long last ratify UNCLOS, the
    seminal, non-controversial international agreement that forms the
    foundation of international maritime law. However, recognizing that
    such action is unlikely given the current makeup of the U.S. Senate,
    short of full ratification, the U.S. delegation can still exert
    significant influence over the ongoing negotiations, and help ensure
    that the treaty includes strong protections against over-exploitation
    of marine resources, and establishes a clear path for the world to
    designate critical areas of the High Seas as fully-or highly-protected
    marine protected areas (MPA).
        In addition to supporting completion and ratification of a robust
    BBNJ treaty, the U.S. should also support strong ocean protection
    across a range of international bodies and decisions they will make
    throughout 2020, a major year for international ocean action. By the
    end of this decade, international bodies will make major decisions on a
    suite of topics that will have lasting ramifications for our marine
    resources. These include working to ensure achievement of key targets
    in the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 14, ``Life Below Water,''
    contains several targets for the international community to meet by
    2020, including protecting 10 percent of the ocean; ending harmful
    fishing subsidies such as those that promote fishing activity on the
    High Seas; and bringing an end to global overfishing. \22\ The U.S.
    delegation should support all international efforts to achieve these
    goals.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \22\ United Nations Development Programme, Sustainable Development
    Goals, Goal 14: Life Below Water. Undated. Available at: https://
    www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-
    14-life-belowwater.html
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In addition, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is in the
    process of revising its Mining Code \23\ in a manner that could result
    in issuance of permits to extract minerals from fragile areas of the
    deep seabed that are filled with marine life. Many of these ecosystems
    have not yet been carefully studied and have never before been
    disturbed by human activity. Although the U.S. does not have a formal
    seat at the negotiating table due to our failure to ratify UNCLOS,
    American statements and indications that it does not support High Seas
    seabed mining would send a strong signal to negotiators. Specifically,
    the U.S. should adopt the position that the ISA should issue a
    moratorium on permits and regulations for the duration of the UN's
    Decade of Ocean Science that will kick off in 2021. Setting aside
    mining activities for this period will allow scientists to explore
    these areas, take stock of the yet undiscovered resources that exist
    there, and ensure that if mining is to proceed it will only move
    forward with a full understanding of the implications for the health of
    the deep ocean ecosystem and under a robust and precautionary
    management regime.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \23\ International Seabed Authority, ``The Mining Code,'' undated.
    Available at: https://www.isa.org.jm/mining-code
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Establishment of Marine Protected Areas
        In 2016, a group of scientists led by Bethan C. O'Leary published a
    comprehensive review of over 140 studies and found that ``results
    consistently indicate'' that protecting 30 to 40 percent of the ocean
    would be necessary ``to protect biodiversity, preserve ecosystem
    services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities.'' \24\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \24\ O'Leary, Bethan C., et al., ``Effective Coverage Targets for
    Ocean Conservation,'' Conservation Letters: a Journal for the Society
    of Conservation Biology, 21 March 2016. Available at: https://
    onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12247
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In recent years, several nations including Chile, the United
    Kingdom, Palau, the Cook Islands, and others have moved proactively to
    establish large marine protected areas (MPA) in their waters, affording
    varying degrees of protection to areas of the ocean comparable in size
    to entire countries. The U.S. briefly held the title of world's largest
    marine protected area following President Obama's 2016 action to expand
    the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The largest is
    currently the Cook Islands' Marae Moana area designated in 2017.\25\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \25\ International Union for the Conservation of Nature, ``The
    Journey of Cook Islands: Marae Moana,'' 26 June 2018. Available at:
    https://www.iucn.org/news/oceania/201806/journey-cook-islands-marae-
    moana
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        However, as with so many things, size is not always the most
    effective measure. Arguably the most critical factor to ensure MPAs
    achieve their intended goals of increasing ocean health is the level of
    protection they are afforded. And while Marae Moana includes 50 km no-
    take zones around 15 islands, the remainder of the area has only
    limited protections. Current estimates are that approximately 7 percent
    of the world's ocean has some level of protection, but less than 3
    percent is either fully or strongly protected.\26\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \26\ Sala, Enric, et al., ``Assessing real progress towards
    effective ocean protection,'' Marine Policy, vol. 91, May 2018, pp 11-
    13. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
    S0308597X17307686
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        While we may yet be able to achieve the 10 percent by 2020 goal,
    these will likely not be fully or strongly protected MPAs. And getting
    to 30 percent or more by 2030 will certainly require a mechanism to
    safeguard critical areas of the High Seas. For this reason, one of our
    key goals at the Aspen High Seas Initiative is to work with scientists
    and research organizations to create data-sharing mechanisms that will
    enable us to identify the areas of the remote ocean that are most
    critically in need of protection. Simultaneously, we work to advance
    new and improved governance mechanisms, such as those proposed for the
    BBNJ treaty, to create mechanisms for the establishment and enforcement
    of strong High Seas MPAs.
    Promoting sustainable, legal seafood at home and abroad
        Thanks to the provisions included in the 2006 reauthorization of
    the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the
    U.S. is recognized as a global leader in ending overfishing and
    producing sustainable seafood. The model has proven so successful that
    major overhauls of management systems in the European Union, Indonesia,
    and most recently Japan have used the MSA as a model.
        Key provisions of the MSA include a requirement for strict annual
    catch limits to be set in every U.S. fishery that cannot be set higher
    than the level recommended by each Regional Fishery Management
    Council's Science and Statistical Committee. With few exceptions,
    stocks found to be overfished must be rebuild to sustainable levels
    within ten years. While the act is proving to be successful at meeting
    the arduous task of rebuilding our fish stocks, some of which had been
    subject to extended periods of overfishing, because the U.S. imports
    the vast majority of seafood it consumes, we must also work to
    incentivize other fish producing nations to adopt similarly strict
    standards.
        While we of course have no jurisdiction over what happens in other
    countries' waters, we do have some control over market demand and
    individual consumer choice here at home. One powerful new tool is
    NOAA's Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) which was established
    in 2016 as a key measure to improve transparency and combat illegally
    harvested seafood entering the U.S. market. Blocking entry of illegal,
    unsustainable foreign seafood offers a more level playing field for our
    domestic fishermen who play by the rules, and it puts pressure on other
    countries to clean up their act if they wish to do business here. The
    committee should support the ongoing improvement and expansion of that
    program. Furthermore, ongoing efforts to educate American consumers
    about the benefits of buying American seafood for its environmental,
    health, and quality benefits can buoy the domestic fishing industry and
    ensuring consumers are choosing sustainably-harvested fish that happens
    to also have a smaller carbon footprint.
        A United Nations treaty known as the Port States Agreement also
    provides a critical enforcement method against illegal fishing
    activity. Countries that have ratified this agreement, including the
    United States, have agreed to place stronger restrictions on foreign
    fishing vessels coming into their ports to offload fish, and if vessels
    are known to have been involved in illegal fishing, party states can
    refuse them entry to their ports. As additional countries ratify this
    agreement, and illegal fishing identification methods increase, the bad
    actors will be left with no markets into which they can sell their ill-
    gotten product.\27\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \27\ The Pew Charitable Trusts, ``The Port State Measures
    Agreement: From Intention to Implementation,'' 12 April 2018. Available
    at: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/
    2018/04/the-port-statemeasures-agreement-from-intention-to-
    implementation
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Another important opportunity we are seizing to address
    unsustainable and illegal practices is our increasing ability to
    identify fishing vessels operating illegally on the High Seas and in
    remote areas of individual nations' EEZs, and provide information about
    them to governments who can hold those actors responsible. Satellite
    monitoring by organizations such as Global Fishing Watch are providing
    eyes in the sky that use data from satellite tracking systems, are even
    able to detect light from fishing operations at night, and combine that
    raw data with groundbreaking algorithms to identify potential illegal
    activity and even individual bad actors. We urge continued investment
    in these technologies and in multi-sectoral partnerships between
    government agencies, private industry, and not-for-profit organizations
    like Global Fishing Watch that are leading the charge.
    Improving scientific research capacity, data-sharing, and technology
        The one thing each of these proposed opportunities has in common is
    the need to rely on improvements in scientific research, data-sharing,
    and technology. Fortunately, we are living in a time when opportunities
    to gather data are increasing exponentially, as is our ability to
    process that data. A piece published by the World Economic Forum in
    August 2017 asserted boldly that ``we have collected more data on our
    oceans in the past two years than in the history of the planet.'' \28\
    A blog piece for Scientific American reported that NOAA's ocean sensors
    collect 20 million megabytes of data daily.\29\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \28\ Degnarain, Nishan and Adler, Steve, ``How data can heal our
    oceans,'' World Economic Forum, 4 August 2017. Available at: https://
    www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/how-data-can-heal-our-oceans/
        \29\ Mulrennan, Matthew and Johnson, Ayana, ``7 Award-Winning Apps
    Launch a Mobile Age for the Ocean Economy,'' Scientific American, 16
    February 2018. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/
    observations/7-award-winning-apps-launch-a-mobile-age-for-the-
    oceaneconomy/
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        While all the remote sensors, buoys, data tags, satellites,
    autonomous underwater and sea surface gliders observing, measuring, and
    reporting back their findings are giving us a better picture of how the
    infinitely intricate interactions between various aspects of the
    natural world might actually function, in order to truly unlock the
    secrets they provide will require not just a data gathering revolution,
    but a data management revolution. What good is your daily 20 terabytes
    of data if you have no way to sort it and understand what it means?
        This is why organizations like the World Economic Forum's Centre
    for the 4th Industrial Revolution and XPRIZE are showing an interest in
    solving this ocean data management puzzle. They recognize that ensuring
    a fully functioning ocean system is fundamental not just to ocean life,
    and not just to ensuring we do all in our power to avoid the worst
    possible outcomes of the climate crisis, but to ensuring a viable
    future for humanity as our population continues to soar towards 9
    billion.
    Conclusion
        With our increased knowledge and opportunity comes increased
    responsibility. When our predecessors made missteps with the natural
    world, they could at least fall back on ignorance as an excuse for the
    havoc they had unleashed. Few in Oklahoma in the 1930s could have
    predicted that uprooting prairie grasses for wheat fields would have
    led to the wholesale destruction of the Dust Bowl. While nuclear
    scientists in the 1950s surely understood that radioactive fallout
    wasn't exactly beneficial to remote Pacific atolls, they probably
    failed to fully appreciate the scope and permanence of their actions.
        Today we do know. We know what we could not have known before. We
    know that the ocean is not too big to fail. If we turn away from
    science and ignore the warnings in order to carry on with our business
    as usual approach, chasing short-term economic gain at the expense of
    longterm environmental health, we will be dooming future generations.
        Fortunately, we also have the means to avoid the worst of these
    possible outcomes. By tracking, measuring, understanding, and managing
    our ocean and blue economy, and making the hard decisions that may cost
    a little more today but promise a sustainable future for tomorrow we
    can overcome the challenges that lay before us. The critical life-
    support system that is the global ocean will support us as long as we
    take care of it and hold to this one fundamental principle: First do no
    harm.
        Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Cantwell, and members and staff of
    the committee, thank you once again for your invitation to testify here
    today, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

        Senator Wicker. Thank you so much, Mr. Conathan. Welcome
    back to the Committee.
        Mr. Deal, you are recognized.

     STATEMENT OF SCOTT DEAL, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, MAVERICK BOAT
                                 GROUP

        Mr. Deal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
    Cantwell. I appreciate the Committee Members inviting me here.
        I'm a businessman from Florida and to stay on the seafood
    theme, a fish caught is always tastier than a fish bought. So
    I'm here to represent the recreational boating industry and how
    it relates to the Blue Economy.
        As you said, I'm a boat builder from Fort Pierce, Florida.
    My family-owned and operated business which builds boats under
    four different distinct brands that do different things:
    Maverick, Hewes, Pathfinder, and Cobia. Last year, we built and
    distributed around 1,300 boats to our dealer partners all over
    the country and we employ currently around 450 people building
    those boats in Fort Pierce on our 45-acre campus.
        While most people think of recreational boating and the
    boating industry as just a fun business, the term
    ``recreation'' is a bit of a misnomer. Boating means business.
    Recreational boating contributes $170 billion in economic
    impact, supporting 691,000 U.S. jobs, and 35,000 separate
    marine businesses.
        Our industry is uniquely American. 95 percent of the boats
    that are used in the United States are made in the United
    States, made by boat builders like myself, but boat builders
    all over the country, and it's not just the boat builders, it's
    the workers who make the components and the raw materials that
    go into the boats that we build.
        So even though you may not be in a state that has a big
    boat-building presence, like, for instance, propellers are made
    in Indianapolis by Precision Propeller that go on the offshore
    fishing boats that we build and many others build. So a lot of
    people don't realize the depth of the tendrils that go through
    the economy of the U.S. that's all related to the Blue Economy
    as it relates to recreational fishing.
        According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which we
    didn't have this figure until just last year, 2.2 percent of
    GDP is related to recreation, outdoor recreation. Boating and
    fishing are a big part of that. Boating and fishing are growing
    faster than the economy.
        But the ability of my company to expand and manufacture
    more products is directly tied to the ability of saltwater
    anglers to get out on the water. Each year, 11 million
    Americans travel to our Nation's coasts and take part in one of
    America's favorite pastimes, of course, recreational fishing.
        These saltwater anglers, many of which are Maverick
    customers, support 472,000 jobs in saltwater fishing alone
    across a variety of sectors, including 68 billion in economic
    impact.
        There are three basic requirements to support the
    businesses and the jobs that I'm talking about. One is updated
    and robust infrastructure. We've got to have boat ramps to get
    on the water and if anybody doesn't believe there's a problem
    with boat ramps, get up on a Saturday morning and go drive by
    one and you'll see trailers and cars all over the side of the
    road because we simply don't have enough.
        Obviously echoing what everyone else has said, we've got to
    have clean water. We've got to have a good environment for fish
    to grow and to prosper and grow to abundance because, frankly,
    our guys aren't particularly good at what they do. They just
    like doing it. So we've got to have lots of fish. That means
    abundance. So when we don't have clean water, we don't have
    abundance and our jobs and everything else are threatened.
        We need sound fisheries management policies that support
    the efforts of recreational angling. It's critical to our
    business, whether it's NOAA's fisheries, the actual councils
    and appointments, or laws made right here in Congress. These
    decisions directly impact my ability to hire people and put
    more people to work and to grow the economy.
        In 2014, I spearheaded, along with Johnny Morris of Bass
    Pro Shops, the Morris-Deal Report. It was a visioning document
    that led to many of the adopted points in the Modern Fish Act,
    something that I thank Chairman Wicker very much for helping to
    see through signature. Thank you very much, Chairman.
        The Modern Fish Act did address many of the key
    recommendations of the Morris-Deal Report but not all, and more
    work needs to be done.
        One particular area of concern that was in the report is
    the Forge Fish Conservation. It's a critical component of the
    report and fish, such as Menhaden, are under an unprecedented
    amount of pressure, something that I hope can be addressed in
    this next session because with that little fish, you don't have
    big fish because the big fish have to have little fish to grow.
        I look forward to seeing NOAA fully implement the Modern
    Fish Act and despite some of the recent improvements, Federal
    marine fisheries management still is not maximizing the needs
    of the Blue Economy.
        Whether it's seasons or equitable council representation or
    recreational sectors, decisions by NOAA, the councils have a
    real impact on jobs and business growth. For instance, the
    simple decision to allow 39 days of red snapper instead of
    three days.
        I built a new facility and invested $15 million and created
    200 more jobs just myself. The rest of the saltwater fishing
    boat builders put in 46 million in CAPEX and hired another 615
    people. So good fisheries policy management and access to good
    fisheries for my people is a critical thing, but it pays off.
        As you know, the recreational sector takes 2 percent of the
    fin fish taken in America but we produce twice the number of
    jobs that the other 98 percent take.
        So back to the central theme, it's about jobs. The
    recreational fishing community provides a lot of jobs, well-
    paying jobs, and we will grow and we will continue to grow this
    economy as long as you give us access and a reasonable shot at
    the fishery.
        Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Deal follows:]

           Prepared Statement of Scott Deal, President and Founder,
                              Maverick Boat Group
        Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Cantwell and Members of the
    Committee:

        Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss
    an issue important to my business and the recreational boating
    industry: The Blue Economy.
        My name is Scott Deal, and I am President and Founder of Maverick
    Boat Group, a 34-year-old recreational boat manufacturing business in
    Fort Piece, Florida. My family-owned and operated business builds boats
    under four brands--Maverick, Hewes, Pathfinder and Cobia. Last year, we
    built and distributed around 1,300 boats to our dealer business
    partners all over the U.S. Our company currently employs 450 people and
    recently finished a 155,000-square-foot factory expansion.
        While most people think of the boating industry as a fun form of
    recreation, the term ``recreation'' is a misnomer--boating means
    business. Recreational boating contributes $170 billion in economic
    impact supporting 690,000 U.S. jobs and 35,000 marine businesses. Our
    industry is a uniquely American made product: 95 percent of boats sold
    in the U.S. are made in the U.S. From boatbuilders like myself all the
    way down to workers who produce raw materials we use to build those
    boats--boating creates jobs, lots of them. According to the Bureau of
    Economic Analysis, outdoor recreation accounts for 2.2 percent of GDP,
    with boating and fishing growing at a faster rate than the overall
    economy.
        The ability of my company to expand sales, grow market share, and
    manufacture more product is directly tied to the ability of saltwater
    anglers to get out on the water. Each year, 11 million Americans travel
    to our Nation's coasts to take part in one of America's favorite
    pastimes--recreational fishing. These saltwater anglers, many of whom
    are Maverick customers, support 472,000 U.S. jobs across a variety of
    sectors and $68 billion in sales annually.
        There are three basic tenants required to support the businesses
    and jobs behind the recreational boating and fishing industry:

      1.  Updated and robust infrastructure is needed to ensure the 141
            million American boaters and 46 million anglers have sufficient
            access to get out on the water. Whether it's through public
            boat ramps, fishing piers, or marinas--infrastructure is the
            key gateway to the water. Once on the water, boaters and
            anglers need infrastructure for safe and enjoyable operation,
            including navigational markings, mooring buoys and properly
            dredged channels.

      2.  A clean and healthy environment is critical for enjoyable
            recreation. I've personally experienced the impacts of water
            quality and quantity issues as my coastal home faced algae
            blooms this past year. The side effects pose serious harm to
            fish habitat, impede access, and raise human health concerns.
            When our waters are not clean and our fisheries are not healthy
            and abundant, the businesses and jobs supported by boaters and
            anglers are threatened.

      3.  Sound fisheries management policy that support recreational
            angling is critical to my business. Whether its NOAA Fisheries,
            Fishery Management Councils or laws made right here in
            Congress--these decisions directly impact my ability to hire
            workers and contribute to the economy.

        In 2014, I spearheaded, along with Johnny Morris of Bass Pro, the
    Morris-Deal Report--the first-ever vision for managing America's
    saltwater anglers. This report made six recommendations for the
    Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA),
    including allocating marine fisheries to the greatest benefit for the
    nation; creating reasonable latitude in stock rebuilding timelines, and
    codifying a process for cooperative management. Thanks to your
    leadership Chairman Wicker and a bipartisan effort from those on this
    Committee, the Modern Fish Act, which addressed many of the key report
    recommendations was passed last Congress and signed into law. Yet there
    is still more work to be done. Improved forage fish conservation was a
    critical component of the Morris-Deal report and forage fish such as
    menhaden are under intense pressure, something that I hope Congress
    will address this session. I look forward to seeing NOAA fully
    implement Modern Fish Act, because despite some recent improvements,
    Federal marine fisheries management is still not maximizing the needs
    of the blue economy.
        Whether its seasons or equitable Council representation for the
    recreational sector--decisions by NOAA and the Councils have a real
    impact on jobs and business growth. For example, the announcement by
    Secretary Ross to extend the 2017 Gulf red snapper fishing season by 39
    days from only 3 days, was followed by my own factory expansion,
    creating 200 jobs and investing $15 million in the local economy. A
    survey by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and American
    Sportfishing Association, estimates boat manufacturing companies have
    invested $46.1 million in capital expenditures and hired 615 people due
    to the extended seasons and retailers found a 20 percent increase in
    tackle sales. While much progress has been made in recent years to
    improve Gulf management and access, unfortunately, the South Atlantic
    fishery lags behind. We hope many of the data collection and state-
    based management solutions implemented in the Gulf can be replicated in
    the South Atlantic as well. Doing so would generate investments from
    boat manufacturing companies of another estimated $18.7 million and the
    hiring of 312 more people.
        These are real jobs and real contributions to the Blue Economy due
    to the confidence by our industry and anglers in improving public
    access and consistency in fisheries management.
        I'll leave you with this--recreational fishing is more than a
    family enjoying the water on a Saturday afternoon. It provides for
    hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Anglers and boaters are good
    stewards of the environment. We need clean water and sustainable
    fisheries to enjoy our sport. We directly contribute to infrastructure
    and conservation efforts, totaling $600 million annually through the
    Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Recreational anglers
    take only two percent of the finfish in America's oceans, while
    generating more than half the jobs in the entire fishing industry.
        The boating and fishing community looks forward to continuing to
    work with you, Mr. Chairman, the members of this committee and the
    administration to maximize economic contributions to the Blue Economy
    and keep our oceans sustainable for generations to come.
        Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, I look
    forward to answering your questions.

        Senator Wicker. Well, thank you to all three of our
    witnesses for some very excellent and thought-provoking
    testimony.
        And, Mr. Deal, I have been to the Miami Boat Show, the
    enormous economic impact that that has, I think it's greater
    than the Super Bowl, and it's just amazing the number of jobs
    created throughout the entire country, including in my home
    state of Mississippi.
        Mr. Conathan, thank you for mentioning shipbuilding in
    Maine. I have witnessed shipbuilding in Maine and I've
    experienced seafood in both the state of Maine and the state of
    Florida and it's good to have you here.
        Let me begin with Governor Bryant. Governor Bryant, you
    might want to take a moment to introduce a special guest or two
    that you brought along with you that you might have referred to
    in your testimony.
        Mr. Bryant. I have the President of the University of
    Southern Mississippi, my alma mater, Dr. Rodney Bennett, and
    Dr. Bennett.
        Senator Wicker. Dr. Bennett, wave at the crowd. Good to
    have you here. We're glad to have Southern Miss represented.
        Mr. Bryant. And, Dr. Bennett, your staff, would you like to
    introduce who you have? Could he introduce who he has here?
        Senator Wicker. Please, absolutely.
        Dr. Bennett. Mr. Chairman, we have with us from the
    University of Southern Mississippi Dr. Gordon Cannon. Dr.
    Cannon is our Vice President for Research and has more than 33
    years of distinguished academic service to the university.
        Also joining us is Dr. Monty Graham. Dr. Monty Graham works
    on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and is in charge of our School of
    Ocean Science and Engineering.
        Senator Wicker. Well, good, and when he comes back, we'll
    put him on the front row next time.
        Mr. Bryant. I was going to say Mr. Chairman, if you asked
    me a question, it would be so easy, and I would let Dr. Graham
    answer it.
        Senator Wicker. Well, but he won't have that opportunity,
    but I know you probably wanted to elaborate, Governor Bryant,
    on how you envision the universities working with you at state
    government and also the private sector in creating
    opportunities for new economic growth in the Blue Economy.
        Mr. Bryant. Not only the University of Mississippi but all
    our research universities, University of Southern Mississippi,
    University of Mississippi, and Mississippi State University
    have been a part of this, whether it's at NASA, whether it's
    involved in our Oceanic Research Center with the University of
    Southern Mississippi, Gulfport, or our planned new Ocean
    Enterprise Center that we're working with, thanks to your help
    with the CENOTE Act, that will be involving the research
    universities, the private sector, NOAA, as well as the United
    States Navy, bringing all of these elements together primarily
    for the research, monitoring, observation, testing, mapping,
    and protection of the Gulf of Mexico and the entire ocean by
    extension.
        So it's critical that we have that research component after
    the spill, after we had one of the largest manmade disasters in
    the nation, following one of the largest hurricanes known in
    our time.
        We had to take a really serious look at what that ocean
    will look like not only now but a hundred years from now and
    that includes sub-surface testing, not only for scientific
    methods as we work with NOAA to see if there is any change in
    temperature, what that ocean bottom is looking like, how
    anything living in that water is progressing or changing, but
    also for our protection, how we might be able to see what's
    going on beneath the oceans around the world.
        So the United States Navy is moving quickly into sub-
    surface vessels. As I like to say, every general wants to know
    what's over the next hill and every captain wants to know
    what's out in front of his ship and sub-surface vessels are our
    most efficient way of being able to gather information to be
    able to protect the men and women that sail the seas for the
    United States Navy and our allies.
        So we look forward to working diligently with the United
    States Navy. We are, as the University of Mississippi has had
    interaction with NOAA, representatives of the United States
    Navy, desperately working toward being able to achieve the
    requirements of the CENOTE Act there on the Port of Gulfport.
        Senator Wicker. Well, let me sneak in another question and
    then make an observation.
        I know you want to talk about ports, also, and I can assure
    you that this is a topic that's near and dear to the heart of
    Senator Cantwell as well as this member of the U.S. Senate.
        So how do we need to help meet the demands of the 21st
    Century with our ports and make our existing facilities better
    prepared?
        Mr. Bryant. As the economy of this great country is
    growing, we're exporting now. Mississippi, as we said earlier,
    has exponentially increased the amount of exports that we're
    seeing move through our ports all over the state of Mississippi
    but particularly along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but that's
    infrastructure.
        I just spoke to Secretary Chao in the hallway just a moment
    ago. So as we're looking--as you are helping with Senator
    Baldwin with the Port Operations Research and Technology Act,
    as we look at infrastructure, so not only do we have a port
    that's important but how do we get there and how do we do so,
    quite honestly, in a safe and environmentally safe way?
        So we've brought in, for example, three 60-ton electric
    cranes to replace the old diesel-driven cranes that we had, so
    our air quality is so important, access roads that are there,
    our multimodal system with rail that is so important to us,
    deepening the channel. The opening of the Panama Canal and the
    widening of the Panama Canal will bring the Panamanian ships
    in. So it's got to be deeper.
        I am one that embraces the Corps of Engineers. There are
    those that might say the Corps takes its time and they do, but
    for a reason. When you have the responsibility of moving that
    much ocean bottom, you want to do so in a safe and effective
    manner, but we've got to deepen that port. We've got to have
    multimodal opportunities to move products in and out of that in
    a safe way and maintain the air quality in and around there and
    provide jobs, particularly to low-and moderate-income
    personnel.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you, Governor Bryant.
        Senator Cantwell.
        Senator Cantwell. Well, thank you, Governor, for mentioning
    port modernization and that's an impressive number you
    mentioned in your testimony, 259 percent increase in exports.
    We definitely, all up and down the Pacific Coast, feel the same
    kind of pressure, particularly being a neighbor of Vancouver,
    British Columbia, where product can be shipped to and from
    there if we aren't competitive in Seattle or Tacoma or
    elsewhere.
        So your mentioning of the Panamax, which is the competition
    that people need to realize that every day trade and getting
    product to Asia is growing competition from other parts of the
    world and so we need to keep making that infrastructure
    investment.
        So I think this is the second hearing we've had on this,
    but I definitely want to work with the Chairman on making sure
    that we make infrastructure investments in all of the aspects
    that you're talking about, channel deepening, port
    modernization, and I think you articulated very well what some
    of the challenges that are already being met by West Coast
    ports on that, Clean Air Act attainment levels, and there are
    some really great technologies that are helping our ports
    diversify and to get on to cleaner sources of fuel as it
    relates to that.
        So I appreciate your knowledge and depth on all of that.
        Thank you for bringing your guests, too, because one of the
    things that we're also working on jointly is the University of
    Southern Mississippi's Ocean Weather Laboratory and the
    University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory on all of
    the NOAA's observing systems.
        Could you comment a little further on this sector that
    Mississippi is becoming such a knowledgeable place for on
    gliders and radar system and buoys?
        I mean, I ask you to do that just because as a state, you
    understand very well the information that you get out of those
    systems. So what are you hoping that this becomes?
        Mr. Bryant. Information is critical to those of us that
    live and work and play and learn on the ocean, particularly
    when we talk about hurricane season, which is quickly
    approaching.
        So as we work with our universities to make sure that we
    have the smart buoys that are in that water that are constantly
    monitoring that, when the temperature change begins,
    particularly below the ocean surface and below the seabed, you
    can begin to predict when that storm may come in and be able to
    give warnings to the people that are living there, evacuations,
    if necessary.
        So it's truly life and death, but to me, as much as we love
    that ocean, we want to know if it's changing, if it's changing
    at all, if the temperature is moving, if we see ocean life
    being affected. It's amazing how they will talk to you if you
    will listen, and if it begins to change, why is it changing?
        We talked about ports. Not only can we modernize those
    ports but we have new technology now that make them cleaner and
    safer and more effective. In the old days when we were running
    the gasoline and diesel constantly moving to and from, the air
    quality in and around ports were very challenging.
        So the opportunity to modernize and bring them in an
    environmental-friendly way into a new age of exporting products
    all around the world from the United States to and from but
    monitoring that ocean must be done every day, 24/7, and to
    determine if we are doing anything that we need to adjust to
    better protect our oceans.
        Senator Cantwell. Well, I thank you for that. Our two
    colleagues, the late Senator Ted Stevens and late Senator Danny
    Inouye, helped us start that buoy system and I can tell you for
    our oyster industry and shellfish industry, it was critical to
    giving data on when to do seeding because, as water temperature
    changed, they were having a tough time maintaining that sector
    and having that buoy information and the changes in conditions
    was what helped save it. So thank you----
        Mr. Bryant. Critical.
        Senator Cantwell.--for that.
        Mr. Conathan and Mr. Deal, what about science? I mean, you
    both mentioned it in your testimony. Obviously the Fish
    Modernization Act that my colleague, the Chairman, sponsored
    was a little bit of a debate about how much science, but what
    do we need to do to keep everybody understanding that there's
    more science and data. More science and data helps us grow the
    population of fish, thereby then having a larger pie as opposed
    to just fighting over the current piece of pie? How do we do
    that?
        Mr. Conathan. Thank you, Senator Cantwell.
        Briefly, so on that observation point, I think that's a
    critical piece of what we need in order to keep this moving
    forward.
        As you know, my former boss, Senator Snowe, was also a
    tremendous proponent of the Integrated Ocean Observing System.
    We worked on that quite a bit while I was on the Committee, and
    it's excellent to see how that process is advancing through
    work with CENOTE and work at USM and obviously throughout the
    country.
        As I mentioned in my testimony, we are gathering a lot of
    data now, more than we can possibly handle and digest, and I
    think really one of the critical components to how we're going
    to take this to the next level and really begin to understand
    fundamentally what the ocean has, what it can produce and how
    we can make it more productive for the future will be in
    figuring out how to manage that data and how to process it so
    that we can actually extract as much as possible and so that
    means the data needs to come in in formats that are comparable,
    so you're comparing apples to apples as opposed to apples to
    oranges, so that it can all be integrated and put together, and
    ultimately so that the collaboration among the data-gathering
    entities has to be improved so that all the scientists are
    talking to each other.
        We're not duplicating efforts on data collection and we're
    really being able to process it to the fullest.
        Senator Cantwell. Thank you. I know my time has expired but
    Mr. Deal.
        Senator Wicker. Go ahead.
        Senator Cantwell. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Deal. Thank you.
        As it relates to recreational and commercial fishing in
    Federal waters, I'd like to see better cooperation between the
    states and the Federal Government, NMHS in particular, and the
    actual measurement of the biomass of the fish. I think there's
    general consensus that the data is very, very poor. The state
    data is much better, but as is often the case, there are
    pillars and fiefdoms that don't work together as well, you
    know, much to your point.
        So I think if we can make data collection of the fisheries
    that we have a much higher priority within the budgeting of
    NMHS and fast track that, I think there will be a lot of good
    decisions made. I think if the science is not good and not
    sound, then we're going to be making guesses and potentially
    bad decisions.
        Senator Cantwell. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much.
        Now, Governor Bryant, it's my distinct honor to recognize
    for the next set of questions your former colleague, the former
    Governor of the State of Florida, Senator Rick Scott.
        Senator Scott.

                     STATEMENT OF HON. RICK SCOTT,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

        Senator Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Well, Governor Bryant, thank you for being here. You and
    Rick Perry probably were the two best competitors at selling
    your states. You've done an unbelievable job, always talking
    about the success of the citizens of your state, and I just
    want to commend you for what you've done over the last 7 years,
    and I always liked to compete with you for jobs and you held
    your own.
        Mr. Bryant. You were quite a competitor, Senator. I
    welcomed you to the U.S. Senate.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Scott. The beautiful state, you did a great job.
        And, Mr. Deal, thank you for all the jobs you've created in
    Florida and congratulations on all of your different brands
    selling so well. I see them all over our coast, so I'm sure
    they're selling outside the state.
        So, Mr. Deal, you said that the state and feds need to
    cooperate better and share the data better. How would you do
    that? We have a very good Fish and Wildlife Conservation
    Commission in Florida. I'm sure Governor Bryant has the same
    thing there.
        It was a problem for us to get the Federal Government to
    cooperate with us on the red snapper season, any of this stuff,
    and the way we had to look at it was they must be looking at
    different data than we're looking at.
        Mr. Deal. Yes, and understand I'm a boat builder, a
    business person, and not a fish squeezer or whatever you call
    the biologists that are experts in this area. So I defer to
    those guys.
        I just know that, like you say, that it's an issue and that
    they really need to follow the practices of cooperative
    management and work together and use the best available data
    and not fight over who gets to choose the data because
    ultimately if the data is good and the science is good, the
    facts present themselves.
        Senator Scott. Governor Bryant, did you have the same
    issue?
        Mr. Bryant. Absolutely. The Modern Fish Act, Senator, has
    helped so much. Our program, called Tails and Scales, where we
    report the extraction rate of red snapper, has been wildly
    successful. We are able to track the number of fish that are
    being caught both recreationally and commercially.
        We need to expand that, if we can, to other species of
    fish. It is not difficult for any of us that are fishing on
    that water to be able to catch and report, particularly
    electronically now, that extraction rate, and it is a huge help
    to those that look at how we are removing the fish from the
    water, particularly on a commercial rate, and when we need to
    adjust those seasons and just those catch rates.
        So Tails and Scales has been a huge success with us and
    we'd love to share it with any state that would like to have
    that technology.
        Senator Scott. Governor, were you able to get them to
    change their red snapper season as a result of that, the feds?
        Mr. Bryant. If I remember correctly, the Modern Fish Act
    did so. I think it expanded it to about 36 days from about
    three, so quite a number, and Mr. Deal can tell you more about
    that, but when you buy one of Mr. Deal's great boats and you
    fill it up and you get your friends out and you go out and you
    get to catch three fish, that's quite a day.
        So it will grow that economy tremendously being able to
    expand the number of fish that you're able to catch that
    particular day or the weekend.
        Senator Scott. So, Mr. Conathan, is there ability for the
    state and the feds to share better data to where we can make
    better decisions?
        Mr. Conathan. There absolutely is, and I think one critical
    point to raise on this red snapper question in particular is
    that, you know, as I alluded to in my answer to Senator
    Cantwell's question, it's really about making sure that the
    data that is coming in to each of these states comes in in a
    form where they can compare effectively and measure effectively
    what the total amount of fish being removed from the system
    actually is.
        As I understand it, the states have their own monitoring
    systems which are all independent and different and the data
    that comes into those systems isn't necessarily comparable or
    easily shareable among them.
        So I think an effort to bring those organizations together,
    those state organizations together and resolve and get that
    data into one particular format will be incredibly valuable
    and, of course, we have to remember that red snapper is a
    federally managed fish species and those fish don't stay in the
    waters of whatever state they're caught in and they don't stay
    in the state waters; they cross in and out of Federal waters,
    as well.
        And so at the end of the day, what's most important is that
    the fish stays on its rebuilding trajectory and that we get
    that population back to the healthy state so that these fish
    are available in a larger size, that guys love to go out and
    catch and women love to go out and catch so that they are
    available for future generations there, as well.
        Senator Scott. I had more complaints about how many days
    you got to fish red snapper than anything probably I had in my
    years as Governor and at the state, of course, we didn't have
    any control over it. So it was controlled by the feds.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you, Senator Scott.
        Senator Peters.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. GARY PETERS,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN

        Senator Peters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to
    our witnesses for your testimony here today talking about the
    Blue Economy and being from the state of Michigan, I can tell
    you we have a blue economy, as well, a little different than
    what you have been talking about and focusing on the oceans,
    but we have inland seas surrounding my great state.
        As you know, 20 percent of the world's fresh water and they
    are pretty amazing bodies of water and if you look at our blue
    economy, we have the fishing, we have the boating. In fact, I'm
    not sure exactly where we are, Mr. Deal, we have been Number 1
    in boat registrations. I think Florida now is ahead of us but
    we're usually in the top three in terms of boating
    registrations.
        But the difference for the Great Lakes versus our oceans is
    that you can actually drink the water which is a really pretty
    remarkable thing. In fact, 40 million Americans drink their
    water out of the Great Lakes.
        So, Mr. Conathan, I wanted to pick up on your comments
    about how we have to protect the oceans from environmental
    problems. Certainly the Great Lakes are in that category, as
    well.
        One concern that I have is oil spills in the Great Lakes.
    We have a very old pipeline, for example, through the Straits
    of Mackinaw that has been labeled as perhaps the worst possible
    place for an oil disaster anywhere in the Great Lakes Basin.
        But I know you've had experience with the Deepwater Horizon
    Gulf spill and have talked about that. I want to kind of pick
    your brain a little bit about lessons learned there and what
    you can tell us about Federal agencies coordinating for
    cleanup, research that's done on cleanup, kind of what's your
    reflection on how we deal with the disaster should it happen.
        Mr. Conathan. Well, obviously the Deepwater Horizon
    disaster, you know, we're talking about the worst case scenario
    and the response that was there, I think the men and women on
    the ground who were engaged in that cleanup effort certainly
    did so to the best of their ability, but I think, you know,
    large-scale what it really speaks to is, you know, similar to
    the issue that this committee will be discussing this afternoon
    with the Boeing concern, is that industry simply cannot be
    trusted to regulate itself in these instances.
        To this day, there has still not been legislation passed to
    strengthen Federal requirements for oil spill response or to
    raise the liability cap for these events as they occur and so I
    think, you know, while the response was sort of as good as it
    could have been under those circumstances, what we really have
    is a failure to address the underlying principles and now, as
    we see with the looming confirmation hearing of the next head
    of the EPA, you know, it does appear that industry leaders will
    be taking on additional positions of leadership in the Federal
    Government agencies that are poised to regulate them and I
    think that's one of the biggest challenges that we face across
    the board here is ensuring that these industries actually get
    the oversight that they require so that these mistakes don't
    happen in the first place.
        I also have a bit of experience with a local pipeline issue
    myself. I sat on a committee that wrote a local ordinance in my
    hometown of South Portland, Maine, to prevent the reversal of a
    flow of oil through that pipeline that would have crude oil
    coming down from Canada to be exported, and so as a result of
    that and my experience in Deepwater Horizon and being on the
    ground there as a staffer of this committee and talking to the
    folks who were impacted by that on a daily basis, it really is
    an issue that we need to hear the local voices and ensure that
    the local voices are being heard in these questions, as well.
        Senator Peters. Well, I appreciate those sentiments. I
    think you're absolutely right and we have to hold people
    accountable and we have to make sure that they're doing what
    they have to and don't assume that it's being done because
    that's when accidents happen and they can be catastrophic.
        Speaking of a pipeline accident, we had the most expensive
    pipeline accident in the country in the Kalamazoo River with
    cleanup costs exceeding $1 billion. So it's something that is
    simply unacceptable.
        One thing that I'd also like you to comment on is that I am
    working actually with Senator Young, a colleague of mine here
    on the Committee, on legislation to update NOAA's Environmental
    Sensitivity Indexes.
        As we're looking at cleaning up a site or if a disaster
    happens, you have to actually know the lay of the land and the
    lay of the water and the currents and how you actually move
    forward.
        You know, I'm particularly disappointed in the fact that
    most of the Great Lakes Sensitivity Indexes haven't been
    updated in over 20 years and as I mentioned in my opening
    comments, this is water that 40 million people drink and we
    don't have the kind of analysis of sensitivity that we have
    along our ocean coastlines.
        Could you speak a little bit to the importance of having
    these Sensitivity Indexes in your mind so that we can deal with
    these accidents appropriately?
        Mr. Conathan. I'm not familiar with the latest updates to
    that program through NOAA.
        As I mentioned, I've been focused a little more on deeper
    ocean issues of late, but, in general, I mean, I think it's
    pretty clear that drinking water in particular is a critical
    part of our Nation's infrastructure that has significant
    challenges.
        We're seeing more reports of lead in drinking water in
    schools. Obviously the issue in Flint is an ongoing problem and
    concern and we don't want that replicated on a larger scale and
    again, this is an area where acquiring additional environmental
    sensitivity data and learning how to process that data and
    understand what that actually means will pay significant
    dividends.
        A member of our Leadership Council on the Aspen High Seas
    Initiative is a scientist, Barbara Block from Stanford, who's
    done a tremendous amount of work on bluefin tuna, including in
    the Gulf of Mexico, after Deepwater Horizon and determining
    what the effect of that, the negative implications of that
    disaster were on that species, and I think while that work is
    still ongoing, I think it's clear that the natural world, as
    well as our human health, is incredibly sensitive to these
    issues and the better we know about what those thresholds need
    to be, the better we'll manage them.
        Senator Peters. I appreciate it. Thank you.
        Mr. Chairman, the bill I was referring to passed out of our
    committee last year; I appreciate your support. Hopefully we'll
    be able to move it out again this year and get it through the
    House. It's certainly a critical piece of legislation and I
    look forward to continuing to work with Senator Young.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much, Senator Peters, and
    thank you for your leadership there.
        Senator Blackburn.

                  STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN,
                      U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE

        Senator Blackburn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Governor, good to see you and welcome, and I am so happy
    that you brought somebody from Hattiesburg.
        Mr. Bryant. Yes, ma'am.
        Senator Blackburn. That sounds like a good thing to me.
        I've got a couple of questions kind of from a different
    perspective. We're all for clean air, clean water, and we
    appreciate the work that's been done for a healthy environment,
    for growing, making certain that you do have the fish or, as
    Governor Scott, Senator was saying, the red snapper there, that
    you can have those good days when you go out to fish.
        But I want to turn a little bit toward tariffs and trade
    because you've got to have that good boat to get in and in
    Tennessee, we have some mighty fine boat manufacturers and
    they're doing good work and they talk with me sometimes about
    sheet aluminum and steel and tariffs.
        Mr. Deal, what I'd like to hear from you quickly is how it
    has affected your business and the volume that you're able to
    produce each year.
        Then, Governor, if you'll talk a little bit about the Port
    of Pascagoula and the exports, imports, exports, what you have
    seen in the volume that is going through the port.
        Mr. Deal.
        Mr. Deal. Yes, understand I build fiberglass boats.
        Senator Blackburn. OK.
        Mr. Deal. So we don't, but I do work with the National
    Marine Manufacturers Association and the subject of the
    sheetmetal, sheet aluminum tariffs is a very unctuous one for
    many, many, many builders in Tennessee and all over the
    country.
        You take the additional throughput costs of the materials,
    some of which we are experiencing on our component parts on the
    fiberglass side, as well, but primarily on the aluminum side,
    and you couple that with the retaliatory tariffs of Canada and
    the EU, it has been a real, real problem for a lot of builders.
        You know, a 25 percent tariff is pretty much a death blow
    to your export markets. So it has been a real bad thing for our
    industry.
        Senator Blackburn. OK, and I imagine the EPA with your
    fiberglass finishing is probably more of a hazard for you.
        Mr. Deal. Really, no. We manage. We work very closely with
    in Florida the----
        Senator Blackburn. Good.
        Mr. Deal.--Department of Environmental Protection and we
    actually are working our way toward a zero emission facility.
    So we do a lot of closed molding and our industry is moving
    toward that. So that our relationship with the EPA is very
    cooperative.
        Senator Blackburn. Good. Sounds good.
        Governor?
        Mr. Bryant. Yes, ma'am. Ports are so important. As I said
    earlier, 259 percent increase in exports in 10 years. We are--
    and that's after Katrina destroyed the Port of Gulfport,
    heavily damaged the Port of Pascagoula and Port Bienville.
        So we are seeing products that are now being manufactured
    across the United States particularly going to South America,
    that the emerging middle class that we see there is demanding
    more consumer products, and we're all too happy to ship those
    products to them, while at the same time we're bringing in
    fresh fruit.
        We're the largest fresh fruit distributor in the
    Southeastern United States there at Port of Gulfport. I think
    it has immeasurable opportunities for jobs, for growth.
        I agree with you on the tariffs. As I've talked to my
    farmers, as I've talked to our manufacturers, the tariffs are a
    challenge to them, and I think if we can unbridle that at some
    point and settle those disputes, if we can agree with Canada
    and Mexico to get that free trade agreement ratified, you're
    going to see more business at our ports. You're going to see
    more blue economy and again if we're going to get to a 355-ship
    Navy, it's going to take all of us working together.
        Parts of the ships that are manufactured there at Ingalls
    come from all over the United States and so we're all too happy
    to be America's shipbuilder, but it will take hard work with
    this committee to make sure that we have the leverage and the
    opportunity and the flexibility in the states to grow those
    economies.
        Senator Blackburn. Excellent. Yield back.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you, Senator Blackburn.
        Mr. Deal and Mr. Conathan, the CENOTE Act and the Modern
    Fish Act are new statutes. We are just now implementing them.
        I want to give each of you an opportunity to give us
    suggestions about how to exercise our oversight responsibility
    and what we might need to look out for as we work with the
    agencies in getting these up and running.
        Mr. Conathan. Very well. Thank you, Senator.
        So I would say that, first of all, the outcome of the
    Modern Fish Act I think was a very good compromise. I know
    there were concerns about the bill as initially introduced and
    some of the efforts to potentially weaken some of the building
    requirements that are fundamental to the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
    which is, you know, not just a model for how we manage
    fisheries here in the United States but one that's been
    replicated around the world and one that we should be
    incredibly proud of for the positive outcomes that it has had
    for our fisheries.
        So I think for me, the most critical piece to pay attention
    to there, and I alluded to it earlier in the response to
    Senator Scott's question, is that we really ensure that our
    ultimate goal remains rebuilding these fish stocks to their
    maximum sustainable yield as the law requires and that we get
    to that point as quickly as feasible because of the economic
    benefits that it will pay and the long-term returns to the
    recreational and the commercial sectors.
        So I think the provisions of the Act that will be
    implemented in terms of the reports that NOAA is going through
    now and the returns from those reports, you know, we need to
    wait to see what the outcomes of those are, but they will
    likely produce results that I think will have positive outcomes
    for the future of the fisheries down there.
        On the CENOTE bill, I would just say that I think that is a
    tremendously positive piece and I think that it's going to pay
    significant dividends in terms of how we acquire data and how
    we bring more data into the system to ultimately understand
    more about the ocean that frankly we know very little about
    still to this day. So solving that mystery will pay dividends
    in itself.
        Senator Wicker. Mr. Deal, anything to add?
        Mr. Deal. Yes. I do actually. Mr. Conathan's reference to
    maximum sustainable yield is sort of emblematic of the whole
    dichotomy between recreational and commercial take. Maximum
    sustainable yield is take, you know.
        One fewer fish than will collapse the stock and it's all
    about biomass and pounds, whereas recreational anglers want to
    catch fewer trophy fish that are bigger, and so it's just an
    example of how we need to work together in the implementation
    process to recognize these differences and develop management
    strategies that are unique to each subset and that we
    prioritize the data collection so that we really understand
    what the biomass is, what the health of the resource is, and
    don't just make guesses based on bad data. We really need to
    prioritize data collection.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much.
        Mr. Conathan, I've certainly enjoyed my association with
    the Aspen Institute over time. Your aspect of it is a
    relatively new shop. So tell us a little bit about it.
        I understand in your written testimony, there's a website
    that our viewers can go to to find out about it, but where
    you're located, how big is your shop, and will you be
    recommending legislation and governmental practices?
        Mr. Conathan. Well, thank you, Senator Wicker. I certainly
    appreciate the opportunity to talk about the exciting work
    we're moving into at the High Seas Initiative.
        So, yes, you're correct, it is a new program of the Aspen
    Institute, and it's really focused on protecting the health of
    the high seas and the ocean at a global scale.
        So really our primary goals are to help develop additional
    data, to facilitate the science that's going to help us
    understand better what is in the ocean and communicate that to
    the public in a way that gets the people more excited and
    energized about ocean issues in general, and then use that
    outcome to influence policy.
        So really the goal of the program in general is to inspire
    new champions for the ocean and for the high seas that
    ultimately lead to the protections for the ocean that we're
    going to need going forward at a global scale.
        Senator Wicker. When you go to work, where do you go?
        Mr. Conathan. Well, mostly I go downstairs and I work in my
    home office in South Portland, Maine, but when I come down here
    to D.C., that's where the home office of the Aspen Institute
    and then, of course, we have our campus out in Colorado, as
    well, and so I'm out there, you know, as much as I'm able. It's
    a beautiful spot to be and, frankly, it's a great place to talk
    about the ocean because it's a place where, you know, when
    you're high in the Rocky Mountains, people are not typically
    thinking about the oceans and the coasts, but again as I
    mentioned in my earlier remarks, no matter where you are in the
    world, the ocean is affecting everything that's occurring to
    you, whether it's producing the snow that you're skiing on or
    the air that you're breathing. It's integral to everything that
    we do and it is a fundamental system for the planet and one
    that we need to protect.
        Senator Wicker. Well, I will tell you Senator Gardner was
    here for part of the testimony today and he wanted to assure me
    as the Senator from Colorado that he is interested in the Blue
    Economy, also.
        Senator Cruz.

                      STATEMENT OF HON. TED CRUZ,
                        U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS

        Senator Cruz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to each of
    the witnesses. Governor, good to see you. Welcome.
        Mr. Bryant. Good to see you, Senator.
        Senator Cruz. Sorry to bring you to Washington, D.C.
        Mr. Bryant. It's all right. It's only temporary.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Cruz. I hope you survive the travels and return
    home safely and quickly.
        Mr. Bryant. Thank you, sir.
        Senator Cruz. In 2017, in Texas, our commercial fishing
    landings pulled in nearly $224 million in fisheries landings,
    an increase of more than $30 million over 2016 levels, and our
    recreational anglers took more than 1,100 trips and harvested
    more than two million pounds.
        As we look to expand the economic output of the U.S.
    Exclusive Economic Zone, how can we protect these existing
    industries which make such substantial economic impacts in
    Texas and more generally, in our Nation's coastal communities?
    I would welcome thoughts from any of the witnesses on that.
        Mr. Bryant. Well, if----
        Mr. Conathan. It speaks----
        Mr. Bryant. Go ahead.
        Mr. Conathan. It speaks to the data collection issue. I
    mean, we have to have better science to manage these fisheries
    and we have to have better data collection on the health of the
    fisheries and real-time understanding of where the biomass is.
        Mr. Bryant. I think if we look at the program with the
    Modern Fish Act now, as we have in Mississippi, the Tails and
    Scales Act, where we are monitoring the red snapper, no angler
    minds doing that because we know it is helping future
    fishermen. We know our children will benefit from what we're
    looking at with the extraction rates and mortality rates of the
    fish.
        So it is about monitoring. It is about making sure that we
    have a uniform opportunity across this Nation to be able to
    report those.
        Now the government doesn't need to know every fish that you
    catch but as we, as fishermen, understand that if it's helping
    that great sport and that economy, we don't mind doing that,
    particularly in a commercial level.
        Eighty-four percent of the seafood we consume in the United
    States is imported. Imagine if we were to give the flexibility
    and opportunity, within guidelines, of our commercial fishermen
    and anglers to be able to share that catch. We might be able to
    reduce the import and, quite honestly, there's all types of
    concerns from mercury to other concerns of imported seafood
    that have supplanted the seafood industry here in the United
    States and that's something we desperately need to look at.
        Mr. Conathan. Sorry. I would just add quickly that the
    other piece of that, and I agree with both of the statements,
    but the other piece of that is communicating those messages to
    the people who are using that resource, both on the consumer
    side and on the producer side and the recreational angler side.
    The importance of communicating that data and getting that into
    the system is critical, as well.
        Senator Cruz. OK.
        Mr. Deal. Can I also add the logical thing, if you look at
    the import numbers, the vast majority of that food that's
    imported, seafood that's imported is grown through aquaculture,
    and we need to take a serious look at our aquaculture
    opportunities and manage them in ways that make sense, that are
    environmentally safe and friendly and to increase our domestic
    aquaculture so we don't have to import so much from overseas.
        Senator Cruz. Well, when you say a serious look, what would
    you recommend? What makes sense in that regard?
        Mr. Deal. Well, I think Senator Wicker's got some thoughts
    on that that he might be able to share with you, as I
    understand.
        Senator Wicker. Indeed, I don't want to take Senator Cruz's
    time, but I've introduced the Aqua Act. We're probably going to
    need some help from our witnesses about that and particularly
    Mr. Conathan. I hope your institute is going to work with us
    because indeed the Governor's correct.
        We ought to be growing a lot of this aquaculture in the
    sort of controlled safe environments that we can be sure of
    here in the United States rather than some fairly sketchy
    places around the world where you've got antibiotics and
    mercury and other contaminants.
        Mr. Conathan. Yes. I think there's a tremendous opportunity
    to develop--again, Senator Cruz, I apologize for this
    diversion, but I think there's a tremendous opportunity to
    develop an aquaculture industry in the United States, but there
    are also a lot of pitfalls that we need to watch out for.
        Those include issues that Senator Cantwell recognized with
    the farming of non-native fish species and the large release of
    Atlantic salmon that occurred in the Pacific Northwest. There
    are also issues of feed and how you produce food for
    particularly carnivorous aquaculture species and what the ratio
    of fish, wild capture fish, often forage fish, which is
    important to all aspects of the environment and the fisheries,
    as well, that has to be ground into meal to feed the farmed
    fish when they are carnivorous.
        But certainly there are opportunities in aquaculture,
    particularly in multitrophic aquaculture or multispecies
    aquaculture where you're farming seaweed and shellfish and fin
    fish together in a single site that allows some of those
    natural cycles to really take full advantage of the nutrient
    load that's being put in.
        Again, we have to be very careful about how those nutrients
    are distributed throughout the rest of the ecosystem.
        And, second, in closed loop onshore aquaculture facilities
    where we can really be producing these seafood, particularly
    again vegetarian fish that do not require wild capture fish as
    part of their diet and can grow in systems that are easy to
    control, where you can control the inputs and the outputs and
    treat the affluent from those facilities, so that it doesn?t
    cause the environmental impacts of open ocean aquaculture.
        So lots of things to be aware of but, indeed, you know, if
    we can control a sustainable, truly sustainable aquaculture
    industry in this country, that's certainly better than some of
    the fish that are coming from places where we have extremely
    little control over what goes into those facilities.
        Senator Wicker. And, of course, farm-raised catfish would
    be an excellent example of that, which we do more of in
    Mississippi than any other state.
        I hope Aspen will help us develop a good aquaculture
    program and I want Senator Cruz to take as much time as he
    needs to get his questions in.
        Senator Cruz. Just briefly, Governor. As you're aware, last
    year, NOAA announced a 2-year pilot program that gives more
    power to five Gulf states, including Mississippi and my home
    state of Texas, to manage recreational fishing for red snapper
    and I wanted to ask what conclusions do you think are likely to
    result from that program?
        Mr. Bryant. I think you're going to see that industry grow.
    It was the former Governor from Florida who was just talking
    about how he probably got more phone calls about that than
    anything else and I understand that remark completely.
        So it has given the states some flexibility to be able to
    expand that recreational fishing primarily in these Gulf of
    Mexico states and so you see more people investing. People are
    coming from all over the United States to fish in Texas and
    Mississippi. The economy has grown. So it has been wildly
    successful in my mind.
        And again, the industry will monitor itself but there's
    always an opportunity, particularly as we look at the Modern
    Fish Act, to help with that, but they understand their industry
    depends on how they go about the proper management of those red
    snappers and they're doing a very good job of that. That was a
    wonderful piece of legislation and has relieved a great deal of
    tension and stress on administrators and Governors and
    senators. Thank you for it.
        Senator Cruz. Well, very good. Thank you.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you, Senator Cruz.
        Gentlemen, you've come all this way. Is there anything that
    we really need to cover? Any final remarks from any of you?
    Governor Bryant?
        Mr. Bryant. You know, Senator, better than to ask me that.
        I just think the CENOTE Act is one that has probably been
    underrated at this point. I equate it to the creation of NASA.
        CENOTE will help us map the ocean floor. It will help us
    explore and find new species that were unknown to man. This is
    going to be a remarkable opportunity for us to find out what's
    really in that ocean and how we can go about preserving it and
    utilizing it for our economy throughout the world.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you. Mr. Conathan.
        Mr. Conathan. Thank you, Senator Wicker.
        I would just also add that, of course, the Blue Economy is
    not just an American phenomenon. It's an international
    phenomenon. The ocean is planetary in scale and there are on
    the international front tremendous opportunities coming to the
    fore in the international policy world over the next 2 years.
        We talk about 2020 as being an oceans super year where
    there will be decisions made through the various bodies of the
    United Nations on issues as diverse as the Biodiversity Beyond
    National Jurisdiction Treaty that I mentioned as currently
    negotiations are underway in second session there. That treaty
    will be out hopefully by 2020.
        The International Seabed Authority is developing new
    regulations for the future of potential industry in the deep
    seabed mining space which is something that we have significant
    concerns about in terms of how that will affect these deep
    ocean ecosystems.
        The Convention on Biodiversity is talking about protecting
    hopefully 30 percent of the planet by 2030. So I would also
    urge the Committee to continue to be aware of these
    international opportunities as they arise and ensure that your
    voices are heard there and happy to provide you more
    information on those opportunities as they're coming up.
        So thank you for the time.
        Senator Wicker. Very good. Mr. Deal, anything else to add?
        Mr. Deal. Very briefly, just let's make sure that the
    intent of the Modern Fish Act is carried through the
    implementation process, all the way to the end, and I think
    we'll be much better off for that.
        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much.
        Senator Blumenthal.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,
                     U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT

        Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
        I know that Senator Cantwell asked about the importance of
    science in fisheries management and I wonder if you have, any
    of you, suggestions for us in how to change, because
    undoubtedly, there will be change the current fisheries
    management structure, that is, how facts and science are used
    because right now in Connecticut, the system essentially is not
    working for either recreational or commercial fishing.
        The quotas are off because of the migration of fish
    populations and so I see a need for reforming the management
    system to be more responsive more quickly to the changes in the
    fish populations and management that result from changes in
    climate and other factors.
        Perhaps I can open that for you.
        Mr. Conathan. Sure. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
        I think you hit on it at the end there. I mean, the
    critical factor is, and as a New Englander myself, I mean, I've
    seen over the last, you know, 40 years now, I've watched the
    changes in fish populations and they're increasing obviously
    extremely rapidly over the last decade or so in particular and,
    you know, we've talked about the issue of Black Sea bass in the
    past and that migrating up from the Mid-Atlantic into the New
    England region.
        Obviously significant changes in the lobster fishery in
    your part of the world, and I think becoming more responsive
    more quickly to these changes is going to be a critical part of
    the system, and I think we're really at a point in our ability
    as a result of technological advances and data management
    advances where we should be able to incorporate these changes
    and these shifts more quickly and part of that will come from
    increasing access to data, particularly from commercial fishing
    vessels.
        I think electronic monitoring systems will be critical in
    this and those data can then be incorporated much more rapidly
    into, for example, stock assessments or management models that
    are required to set some of those levels.
        I also think greater collaboration between the regional
    fishery management councils is critical in ensuring that, for
    example, the New England Council and the Mid-Atlantic Council
    are managing perhaps more collectively than they have in the
    past. I don't know exactly what that needs to look like and
    certainly there are complications and history and personalities
    and everything else that goes into that, but that will be
    critical to making sure that we make better decisions for our
    fisheries, as well.
        Senator Blumenthal. Do you think that structure of councils
    organized regionally should be changed?
        Mr. Conathan. That's a good question. I think that there
    needs, at the very least, to be a more formalized mechanism for
    that inter-council communication to occur, and over the last
    couple of years, I have not been as deeply involved and my
    knowledge of the intricacies of the Magnuson Act is a little
    rustier than it has been in the past, but I think that's
    definitely something worth looking at.
        Senator Blumenthal. I mean, we wouldn't--for example, you
    analogized space to the seas, and I agree with you that, Number
    1, we're far more likely to find new forms of life at sea but
    also probably more payback on investment in the sense of
    resources and so forth, but we wouldn't divide different areas
    of space into different councils and the sea is likewise
    difficult to divide in terms of boundaries and geography
    because fish have no respect for the councils that we just
    pretty arbitrarily establish.
        Mr. Conathan. Yes. No, we do draw those lines based on
    political boundaries that certainly have no or at least very
    little, in many cases, overlap with the biological realities of
    the regions.
        However, I do think there's also a place for local
    knowledge in fisheries management and I would want to make sure
    that that aspect is not lost as things are, you know,
    potentially shifting in that direction.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, and thank you to all the
    witnesses for being here today.
        This has been a very useful hearing. I apologize. I had an
    Armed Services Committee meeting, as well, and I know
    Mississippi cares a lot about shipbuilding.
        Mr. Bryant. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you.
        Senator Blumenthal. Happy you're here and thank you so
    much.
        Mr. Bryant. We were glad you were in that meeting, Senator.
    Thank you.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thank you.
        Senator Wicker. And who knows, I may be able to run over
    and get in on the tail end of that hearing.
        Gentlemen, we thank you very much for your participation,
    for your testimony, and, Governor, thank you for bringing our
    friends from USM.
        Mr. Bryant. Thank you.
        Senator Wicker. And we will now close the hearing, and I
    think I've got some words I'm supposed to read into the record.
        The record will remain open for two weeks. During this
    time, Senators are asked to submit any questions for the
    record. Upon receipt, witnesses are requested to submit their
    written answers to the Committee as soon as possible but no
    later than Wednesday, April 10, 2019, if that's all right.
        So thank you very much.
        We'll conclude the hearing and thank the witnesses.
        [Whereupon, at 11:21 a.m., the hearing was concluded.]

                                A P P E N D I X

         Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. John Thune to
                                   Scott Deal
        Question. In my home state of South Dakota, hunting and fishing are
    not just hobbies, but major drivers of our economy. In the 114th
    Congress, I sponsored S. 834, the Sport Fish Restoration and
    Recreational Boating Safety Act, which became law as part of the FAST
    Act, reauthorizing a popular program that has benefitted anglers and
    fishermen since 1950.
        This program generates nearly $600 million dollars per year which
    are set aside in a Trust Fund for distribution among the states for
    coastal wetlands conservation, fisheries restoration programs, and a
    national boating safety program. The States decide where the money
    goes, which means those dollars get spent on the projects that matter
    the most to our States.
        a. Mr. Deal, can you talk about the benefits of a program like the
    Sportfish Restoration Program?
        Answer. Senator Thune, thank you for your continued support of and
    interest in the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund (Trust
    Fund). As you know, the Trust Fund, which was created in 1950 at the
    behest of the boating and angling community, is a user fee-public
    benefit system funded through motorboat fuel, import duties, and excise
    taxes on small engines, electric motors, and fishing equipment. The
    Trust Fund provides nearly $650 million annually for aquatic
    conservation, infrastructure projects, and boating safety programs in
    all 50 states.
        Not only is the Trust Fund the main source of funding for the
    Nation's fisheries conservation efforts, but it serves as the backbone
    to state fish and wildlife agencies throughout the country--including
    South Dakota, which was apportioned through the Trust Fund more than
    $4.7 million in Fiscal Year 2019. Since 2010, the Trust Fund has
    accounted for nearly 27,000 sites constructed to improve the public's
    access to waterways; more than 2 billion fish stocked in lakes, rivers,
    and streams; and 3.5 million students educated about the benefits of
    conservation, boating, and fishing. These are just a few examples of
    how the Trust Fund is a model for how users of our natural resources
    can ensure that we--and future generations--can continue enjoying clean
    waters, abundant fisheries, and plentiful access.
        With the Trust Fund set to expire in 2020, not only is it crucial
    that Congress protect and reauthorize the Trust Fund, but with
    participation rates increasing--especially in the form of paddle craft
    users--it is important that we identify solutions to help grow the
    Trust Fund to help reduce user-conflicts and ensure the safety of those
    that take to our waters each day. Again, I thank you for your
    leadership on this important issue, and please let me know if you have
    additional questions.

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