Dickinson appointed to new NOAA panel
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – BoatU.S. Government Affairs Assistant Vice President Elaine Dickinson has been appointed to the newly created National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hydrographic Services Review Panel, the boaters’ association reported in a statement yesterday.
She will be one of 15 representatives of the maritime community named to the new panel that will convene its first meeting in early 2004.
As part of the new federal advisory committee, she will advise NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) on matters related to its hydrographic surveys of U.S. waters and the production of nautical charts, both paper and electronic, according to BoatU.S. The new panel was mandated by Congress as part of The Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 2002.
“Recreational boaters are by far the largest constituent group that depends upon the work of NOAA for safe navigation,” said Dickinson. “Boaters are often in the best position to provide valuable feedback to NOAA on its customers’ needs for timely and accurate information and their preferences for charting products. As recreational boaters are upgrading their own equipment with state-of-the-art Global Positioning System receivers in record numbers, the depth and tide data being programmed into these electronics must be just as reliable.”
Some of the specific issues the panel will advise NOAA on include the ongoing updates of hydrographic surveys of U.S. ports and coastal waters, the updating of nautical charts, conversion of traditional charts to electronic charts, real-time water level and current measurements, the new print-on-demand chart services and use of other new technologies.
Dickinson is also managing editor of BoatU.S. Magazine and a registered lobbyist in the BoatU.S. Government and Public Affairs office.
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