4.	RESEARCH SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

4.1.	Research Vessel Coordination

The Second Annual Great Lakes Research Vessel Coordination Workshop was held in Ann Arbor on March 3-4, 1998. The workshop focused on several of the 37 recommendations made concerning research vessels at the first workshop. Three important areas were:

1. Communication and Information Sharing
   Information about the research vessels and their schedule are made available to managers and operators via the Internet. This has been received very enthusiastically by boat captains and has already saved money.
2. Institutional Information Requirement
   There is a real need to establish lake committees so that coordination can occur in smaller, workable units. This would also encourage memorandums of understanding and interagency agreements to allow efficient partnering. It was also suggested that an IJC committee could focus on research vessel coordination.
3. Program Development and Coordination
   The 1998 Science Vessel Inventory provides the State of the Fleet. There are 62 vessels over 30 feet in length counting U.S. and Canadian boats including the Coast Guard. The average age of the boats is 30 years and the average length is 50 feet.

Based on this inventory, the conclusion was that the fleet is not adequate to meet Great Lakes science needs. The Great Lakes fleet should be compared to the coastal marine fleet on the east coast, for example, where the equipment is much newer and larger, even though the Great Lakes area is a tougher environment to work in and has a much longer coastline. In fact, there is only one vessel, the U.S. EPA's Lake Guardian that is capable of year round work on the lakes in most conditions. Because of this, data gaps occur during periods when most boats cannot work, i.e. November through March. This message should get out to a broader audience. Funding for further coordination is needed and support for a Great Lakes Protection Fund proposal is required. For example, an effort should be made to organize the web pages that different vessels may already have. One possibility is that a boat's schedule may be available to others so that ship time can be efficiently used.

The Third Annual Workshop on Great Lakes Science Vessel Coordination was held in Windsor on February 17-18, 1999. This year, the keynote address was given by the Canadian Cochair of the Council, Harvey Shear. The University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) system (http://www.gso.uri.edu/unols/unols.html) for marine research laboratories was described at the workshop. There are three full-time equivalent staff devoted to schedule coordination. Only the University of Michigan boat, the Laurentian, is part of this system. The Council recommends that a UNOLS type system should be used to coordinate Great Lakes Research Vessels. The potential benefits of coordination on the basin level are enormous.

The Council recommends that:

A system like the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) should be used to help coordinate and maximize/optimize use of Great Lakes Research Vessels.

4.2.	Joint Initiatives with IAGLR

1. New Research Priorities. Session Chairs at the Annual IAGLR Conference have been asked to help identify research needs that come out of their sessions. The following motion was passed unanimously at the Council's 30^th Meeting in Montreal:

   "The Council will donate annually to IAGLR $1,000.00 which will be used to conduct a survey of emerging research needs which will be compiled and summarized and published as a Commentary and Editorial in the Journal of Great Lakes Research (JGLR).

2. Agency Presentations on Research Needs. Another motion that was passed is for heads of major research laboratories to present their current research needs at the Annual IAGLR Conference each year. This should be of interest to government funders and organizations including some groups which cannot fund directly but can partner, such as U.S. Geological Survey. The following motion was made and passed unanimously:

   "Hold a session annually at IAGLR where funding agencies would present their funding or collaboration possibilities to the audience".