[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 







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                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:]

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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\
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    \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\
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    \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/
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    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
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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.
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    \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
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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\
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    \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/
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    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.
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    \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
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    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.
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    \23\ International Seabed Authority, ``The Mining Code,'' undated. 
Available at: https://www.isa.org.jm/mining-code
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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\
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    \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\
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    \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
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    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\
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    \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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