NOAA’s Fisheries Service is seeking applicants for the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, the only federal advisory panel charged with advising the Secretary of Commerce on living marine resource issues that are the responsibility of the Department of Commerce.

“We encourage interested members of the public to consider serving on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee,” said Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “We rely on this important panel for inspiration and advice as we make decisions for the management and conservation of all our living marine resources and their habitats.”

MAFAC members draw on their expertise to evaluate and recommend priorities and needed changes in national programs. The members represent a wide spectrum of fisheries interests, environmental, academic, state, tribal, consumer and other related national concerns.

Candidates will be selected by the Secretary of Commerce based on their expertise in work relating to the management of living marine resources and their ability to actively participate in two annual meetings. More than half of the current 21 voting members will finish their terms this October. Applicants who are chosen as members will serve for a term of three years and no more than two consecutive terms if reappointed. Terms will commence in October 2008.

Nominations must be received by July 21, 2008. They should be sent to Mark Holliday, executive director, MAFAC, Office of Policy, NMFS F-14451, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. For more information please contact Mark Holliday at 301-713-2239 x120 or by e-mail: Mark.Holliday@noaa.gov.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.