The theme for the 2017 Gulf of Mexico Summit is “One Gulf” … The theme of the State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit this year in Houston was “One Gulf” and was all about synthesis of science to create positive restoration outcomes. I served on a panel with Mark Harwell and Jack Gentile to discuss our work on the Texas coast Report Card project, and our larger ambition for a Gulf of Mexico Report Card.

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The plenary sessions for the CommOceans conference was in a 100-year old meeting hall. Photo credit: Heath Kelsey … At the recent commOcean2016 conference in Bruges, Belgium, I attended a short discussion session on effective science communication tools and strategies. Although the conversation was not exactly brisk, there was one exchange that triggered a new direction in my thinking about science communication, behavior change, and ecosystem health report cards.

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As part of the NOAA Coral Reef Report Card Project, Alex Fries, Caroline Donovan, and Heath Kelsey facilitated two workshops in Honolulu to create report cards for the Hawaiian Archipelago and the Remote Islands of the Pacific where NOAA has responsibility for coral reef management and assessment.

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Participants at the San Francisco Belmont Forum Workshop … Bill Dennison, Vanessa Vargas, and I traveled to San Francisco, California from 10 to 12 of December 2016 to help our partners Martin LeTissier, and Shona Paterson at Future Earth’s Coasts, to facilitate a meeting of a select group of Belmont Forum project leaders.

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The 2016 Upper Mississippi River Basin Conference in Moline, Illinois had a special theme of “Raising the Grade” this year, which was shaped by the Mississippi River Watershed Report Card which UMCES developed with America’s Watershed Initiative last year. The Upper Mississippi River got a “C” grade in the report card, and although the grade was the highest of all the basins, it is not good enough in the eyes of the regional stakeholders.

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The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Basin Report Card Initiative (BRCI) partnership visited Monterrey Mexico to attend the opening of the Water Center at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, and to meet with the FEMSA foundation and Water Center about the potential for report cards for the Rio Bravo, Rio Conchos, and Monterrey areas…

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In 2014 IAN visited India to help the Ministry of Environment and Forests develop the Chilika Lake Report Card in Odisha, and a Report Card for the Jamnagar Marine National Park and a Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment for the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat. Report cards developed for India … This time we are back to Odisha, to Bhitarkanika National Park, in the northern part of the state.

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The 19th annual River Symposium was held in Delhi, India this year - the first time it's been held outside of Australia. I had a chance to attend, and to present a couple of talks related to the partnership we have with WWF for the Basin Report Cards Initiative. The highlight for me was the special session we co-hosted with WWF to demonstrate the Report Card Game on Wednesday afternoon to close out the meeting. We had about 30 participants, and it was a lively and boisterous session.

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In Early August, Jane Hawkey and I traveled to Mérida and Sisal, to help initiate an ecosystem health report card for the Yucatán State coast of Mexico.

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I had the great opportunity to represent IAN and UMCES as the institutional representative to the Future Earth's Coasts Scientific Steering Committee meeting in Taipei, Taiwan last week. Hosted by JC Lin at the National Taiwan University, the meeting brought together 15 representatives from all over the world to discuss the scientific direction of the group for the next five years.

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