Helping Scientists and Decision Makers Work Together The mission of the California Ocean Science Trust is to help advance a constructive role for science in ocean management and policy decision making.
Bringing scientists, government agencies and lawmakers together isn’t always easy—after all, scientists move up in the world by publishing research, not by hanging out with state officials, while lawmakers can sometimes find scientists’ findings inaccessible or difficult to understand—but the Ocean Science Trust and its supporters believe it’s important. Says Executive Director Skyli McAfee, “It is our conviction that providing rigorous, peer-reviewed science to decision makers and assisting them in understanding the tradeoffs of different decisions is the best method for cost-efficient, durable, and effective policy and management decisions.”
Created by the California Ocean Resources Stewardship Act of 2000, Ocean Science Trust plays many roles. Among them is developing a deep understanding of the science needs of managers, policymakers and regulators, and building innovative partnerships with independent scientists to develop credible, rigorous solutions. To do this, the Ocean Science Trust works closely with Ocean Protections Council, a cabinet level policy body that works to promote a healthy, productive ocean for California. Ocean Science Trust has coordinated relevant science studies on issues of importance to the state, and is in charge of guiding the monitoring of California’s Marine Protected Areas network.
The Ocean Science Trust plays a special role here in Monterey Bay, which has become a national nexus of marine research. The combined talents and intellects at UC Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory, California State University’s Moss Landing Marine Lab, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Lab and of course the Monterey Bay Aquarium itself make up a formidable body of expertise in one small geographic area. The Ocean Science Trust, still a relatively young organization, intends to be regarded as an “honest broker of scientific information for the public,” in the words of McAfee. No doubt much of that information will come from these institutions in our back yard.
California Ocean Science Trust
1330 Broadway
Suite 1530
Oakland, CA 94612
510.251.8320
Learn more at www.calost.org
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