The Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is working closely with the California and the University of Southern California Sea Grant programs to improve scientific understanding in high priority issue areas.  As a first step, the OPC is supporting the West Coast Sea Grant programs' initiative to develop a Regional Research and Information Plan for the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

An important component of this effort is a stakeholder-driven process to prioritze research and information needs for the West Coast.  The goal of Sea Grant and the OPC is to involve the broadest possible range of ocean and coastal interests in the process, including coastal residents, scholars and researchers; community organizations; marine conservation groups; state and local governments; resource managers at both the state and federal levels; and any person or group who depends on ocean resources for livelihood or recreation.

Four stakeholder workshops will be held in California throughout the fall of 2007.  All are invited and encouraged to attend.  If you are not able to attend, please feel free to provide input through the Sea Grant online survey.  More information about the workshops and the online survey are located at:  http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/home.html.

Northern California Workshop
Date and Time:  October 24, 2007, 9 am to 3 pm
Location:  Wharfinger Building, Bay Room
1 Marine Way, Eureka, CA 95501
RSVP:  Susan Schlosser, scschlosser@ucdavis.edu

Bay Area Workshop
Date and Time:  November 7, 2007, 9 am to 3:30 pm
Location:  Elihu Harris State Office Building, Room 1
1515 Clay Street, Oakland, CA 94612
RSVP:  Alisha Dahlstrom, adahlstrom@ucdavis.edu

South Central Coast Workshop
Date and Time:  November 14, 2007, 9 am to 3:30 pm
Location:  Veteran's Memorial Building
112 W. Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara, CA 93101
RSVP:  Monique Myers, moniquemyers@ucdavis.edu