The eighth session of the JCOMM Management Committee took place at the Conference Room XV, Headquarters of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The MAN Committee through this session kept the intersessional activities under reivew, focussing on key strategic issues and actions requiring input from the Committee. The Committee agreed on a number of activities to continue and pursue during the intersessional period, among which the following items may be highlighted:

1. Continuing efforts within the Observations Programme Area (OPA) to implement the initial ocean observing system, as endorsed by the OceanObs09, including development of a strategy to better express and document trends and regional gaps in the observing system, as well as the impacts of these on Members/Member States, in order to better address any issues to funding agencies;
2. Implementation of the five new Arctic Metareas (see also the JCOMM marine weather information page for GMDSS);
3. Increased emphasis on facilitating coastal storm surge and inundation forecasting capabilities in response to increased risks associated with global climate change (see also a summary on JCOMM Storm Surge Modelling and Forecasting);
4. Development of new metrics to better evaluate the long-term trend in marine service quality within the JCOMM mandate, to facilitate continuing improvements;
5. Establishment of a new cross-cutting Team on Satellite Data Requirements, to incorporate the existing Programme Area satellite rapporteurs;
6. Establishment of a process for adopting a WMO/IOC Regional Marine Instrument Centre, following approval of the concept by JCOMM-III; two such centres have already been approved, in China and the USA;
7. Development of a procedure for regular web reporting of the Commission’s capacity building activities, to better publicise the breadth and depth of its achievements in this vital area;
8. Ongoing work towards the adoption within JCOMM of a quality management approach to the delivery of marine weather and ocean services:
9. Agreement to cosponsor, with the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM), a workshop on climate and oceanic fisheries, focussed on Pacific Island Countries.