U.S. Navy Admiral White to Keynote WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit

Rear Admiral Jonathan White will speak at the conference dinner of the World Ocean Council’s Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS), 22-24 April, 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Admiral White, Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy, will address the challenges to maritime security and naval readiness of a changing marine environment and an increasingly crowded ocean – and the important opportunities this presents for collaboration with federal, industry and international partners.

He will highlight issues of common interest and importance shared by the Navy and ocean industries, including ocean observing and prediction, the changing climate, the opening of the Arctic, and adaptation to sea level rise.

Admiral White stated, “Good science, observations, risk assessment and preparedness are fundamental to safe and sustainable operations at sea for all ocean users.”

“Scaling-up observations from industry vessels and platforms through efforts such as the WOC Smart Ocean/Smart Industries program has a particularly important potential to improve the modeling and forecasting of ocean, weather and climate conditions,” he added.

The Admiral further noted that expanding and improving observations will be especially valuable in areas of limited data where industry are increasingly present, such as the Arctic.

The SOS 2013 (22-24 April, 2013, Washington, D.C.) is the only international ocean business community gathering dedicated to industry leadership and collaboration in developing solutions to ocean sustainability challenges. The theme of SOS 2013 is “Oceans 2050 - The Ocean Business Community and Sustainable Seas”. This event brings together a wide range of ocean industries, including: shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, renewable energy (wind, wave, tidal), mining, ports, dredging, cables, pipelines, the maritime legal, financial and insurance communities, and others.

For SOS 2013 information, registration and sponsorship opportunties, click here.