Please update your links! Our new website url is http://masglp.olemiss.edu . This old website will soon cease to exist!

Dear Water Log Readers,

With Y2K officially behind us, the staff and I wish you a very happy new year! As we enter 2001 and, officially, the new millennium, those of us involved in coastal resources leave behind a presidential election we are not likely to soon forget! But, we also embrace the mandates and challenges assigned to us by the last Congress and administration. As you will see from the Federal Legislative Update on page 12, the coasts are taking center stage with lawmakers and, as the article on page 1 explains, the exiting President William Clinton has been busy creating protections for important coastal ecosystems. The year 2001 will be integral as these laws and protections are implemented and, as we reported in Issue 20-3, the two new ocean commissions will conduct studies to synthesize many different interests in order to conserve coastal resources.
 

This represents an exciting time for the field of coastal and ocean law. Water Log will continue to analyze and report on these and other events in the field but under new leadership. After three years as Editor of Water Log, I am handing the "editorial stave" to Research Counsel Tammy Shaw. Be assured that I will continue to be associated with Water Log and contribute articles (you cannot rid yourself of me that easily!) but I look forward to focusing on other elements of the Sea Grant Legal Program and seeing the directions in which Tammy will take the Water Log Legal Reporter.
 

Serving as Editor of Water Log has been one of the most rewarding parts of my work at the Legal Program, as has receiving your comments, recommendations, and praise for the publication. This past year, many of you have communicated to me that Water Log is one of the few publications that you read as soon as you receive it. Recognizing the voluminous amount of information that reaches your desks each day in the form of journals and reporters, I consider this a high compliment. If you ever find that you are tempted to place Water Log in the "Later" folder, I encourage you to contact Tammy or myself so that we may find ways to improve, expand, and keep it useful and interesting.
 

Best wishes for a productive and healthy 2001.

Sincerely,
Kristen M Fletcher
Editor

University of Mississippi