Chairman Wise briefed the Council on recent activities of these two temporary groups. He indicated that he anticipated that both groups would be prepared to report their recommendations to the full Council at its 17 September 2002 meeting.

Commercial Licensing Eligibility Work Group

The Work Group, composed of councilors and DEC staff, identified a variety of issues pertaining to state marine commercial fishing licenses. Similar issues have been grouped together and the groups ranked # 1 ( 4. At its last two meetings, the Work Group began its detailed discussion of each issue, beginning with those in Category 1. The object is to come to a consensus recommendation on how each issue should be addressed or to identify additional information necessary to make a better informed decision on an issue. The next Work Group meeting is on 31 July 2002 at 3:00 pm. At that time, the August and September meeting schedule will be discussed. Councilors who are members of the Commercial Licensing Eligibility Work Group are Davi, McBride, Jordan, Yaxa, and Wise.

Marine Resources Program Financing Subcommittee

The Subcommittee has met several times with DEC staff in recent weeks. Using the 2000-2001 Plan of Work for the Bureau of Marine Resources, a detailed listing of the Bureau's management objectives and activities/programs supporting those objectives, as well as the personnel and non-personnel costs of these activities/programs, the Committee is meeting individually and successively with the heads of the Bureau's sections (Finfish & Crustaceans, Marine Habitat Protection, and Shellfish) to identify personnel and operating fund shortfalls that are undercutting the effectiveness of current marine resource activities and programs, along with new priority activities and programs that cannot be initiated because of lack of funding and/or staff. Once the list of needs is compiled and effectively documented, the subcommittee will identify specific funding mechanisms appropriate to meet specific program shortfalls. The next meeting of the subcommittee is on 31 July 2002 at 10:00 am. At that meeting, the subcommittee will meet with the head of the Shellfish Section. The subcommittee members are Councilors Davi, Danielson, Dearborn, Relyea, and Wise.