Gulf of Mexico Workshop on International Research, 3/29-30 in Houston TX, USA

The Gulf of Mexico Workshop on International Research (GOM-WIR) is the first workshop to bring together expertise from broad disciplines to develop an international research agenda for the Gulf of Mexico.

The workshop is sponsored by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI), the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program (NASGRP) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The objective of GOM-WIR is to identify, prioritize and facilitate potential international environmental research between Mexico, Cuba and the USA in the Gulf of Mexico. The facilitated workshop is by invitation only and will bring together up to 150 researchers from the USA, Mexico, and Cuba from academia, resource agencies and the private sector to participate. Go to gulfinventory.org for more information and to request an invitation.

The workshop will be organized around three thematic areas:

Baseline Studies that generate data that describe existing conditions and define a starting point to monitor marine environmental resources and human dimensions potentially impacted by offshore energy development.

Fates and Effects Studies that evaluate the physical, chemical, and biological processes that affect or are affected by the impacts of oil and gas drilling and production discharges, spilled oil, and oil dispersants on marine biological and human communities.

Environmental Monitoring Studies that generate time series and data trend information to assess effects of industry activities, and to determine effectiveness of mitigation measures contained within stipulations and conditions of permit approval for activities for offshore energy leases.

The focus of the workshop will be on the waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico or research whose scope includes those waters. "Waters", in this case, is broadly interpreted to include from the deeper waters all the way to the coastal and nearshore systems as all may be potentially affected by offshore energy development.

Participation in the GOM-WIR workshop will be by invitation only with a target of 20-50 experts in each thematic area. Invited participants will have one or more of the following attributes:

• International research experience in Mexico, Cuba and/or the Gulf of Mexico
• Experience or expertise in deepwater systems of the Gulf of Mexico
• Experience or expertise in nearshore systems of the Gulf of Mexico, particularly the southern Gulf
• Experience or expertise in socio-economic aspects related to the Gulf of Mexico, particularly the southern Gulf
• Particular knowledge or experience in one or more of the thematic areas

Scientists interested in receiving an invitation to attend GOM-WIR may submit a request through the Request an Invitation form and follow instructions to be considered as a participant. Participants will be informed by January 1, 2017 regarding acceptance.

The GOM-WIR workshop will immediately follow the State of the Gulf Summit March 27-28, 2017 also at the Riverside Omni in Houston, Texas: sgmsummit.org. Workshop participants are invited to also attend the Summit.

Gulf of Mexico Workshop on International Research, March 29-30, 2017 in Houston TX, USA