The third General Assembly of the Caribbean Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing (CaRA) was celebrated on April 12 at the Rincon of the Seas Beach Resort on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Eighty five registered participants attended and five new signatories subscribed to the CaRA MOA and were welcomed to the Association.

Inclement weather forbade attendance of the VI contingent at the recent Stakeholders Council meeting held in San Juan. To make up for this unfortunate circumstance, Prof. Julio Morell, CaRA Principal Investigator and Executive Director visited Council members and CaRA scientists and stakeholders on September 9 2010. Discussions were patterned after those of the Council meeting with emphasis on VI needs.

In anticipation of proposal preparation for the upcoming funding cycle, the CaRA Stakeholder Council was convened to meet with CaRA management and a group of key stakeholders. The meeting was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Juan Puerto Rico on September 2 2010. Regretfully, inclement weather forbade attendance from the US Virgin Islands; an absence that was remedied by a visit the following week to meet with them by Professor Morell, CaRA/CarICOOS Executive Director.

NOAA has announced a “Federal Funding Opportunity” requesting proposals for coordinated regional efforts that further the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The announcement makes explicit reference to the “Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System (ICOOS) Act of 2009” which authorizes the establishment of a national integrated system of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes observing systems, referred to as U.S.

The Caribbean Integrated Coastal Ocean Observing System CarICOOS has deployed a data buoy off Escambrón beach with the mission of providing data on winds, waves and currents to local stakeholders including the port of San Juan and, more generally the island’s Atlantic coast. This new CarICOOS Data Buoy designated “B” follows on the successful deployment and operation of CarICOOS Data Buoy “A” to the southeast of Caja de Muertos serving the port of Ponce and Caribbean coast. CarICOOS Data Buoys are financed by the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System, constructed by the University of Maine Physical Oceanography group and operated jointly by U. Maine and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez ocean observing group.

Through the last decade, the Federal Government has substantially reduced its funding  to Regional groups for the operation of buoys, radars and other ocean observing assets. The Deepwater Horizon spill  in the Gulf of Mexico region now reveals the consequences of reduced spending that have left oceanographers and responders largely unable to observe and predict distribution and trajectories of the oil spill.

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President Barack Obama signed a bill enacting the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 into law on March 30, 2009. Subtitle C of the bill, The Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 establishes: