Chairman Wise informed the Council that the state budget allocated one million dollars for the Marine Animal Disease Facility, $500,000 each to DEC and SUNY Stony Brook. The language of the law establishing the facility also established a consortium (including Long Island University, Sea Grant, SUNY Stony Brook) and an advisory board to establish the consortium’s work agenda. Mr. Wise is drafting a Memorandum of Understanding between DEC and SUNY to delineate the consortium expenses that will be underwritten by DEC with its share of the funds. Mr. Colvin continued that there would be at least one faculty member and one staff person for research and investigation. There would be some presence associated with Cornell, which now had diagnostic capability. Mr. Wise pointed out that while the lobster die-off would be given immediate attention, shellfish disease and other marine animal diseases would be studied also. Mr. Colvin continued that the advisory board was not yet formally established, but invitations had been extended to a small number of organizations to attend its first meeting.