Marine reserves and wave energy will again be the featured topics at two days of meetings to be held in Gold Beach this week.

 The Ocean Policy Advisory Council will meet Thursday and Friday at the Event Center on the Beach, the Curry County Fairgrounds, 29392 Ellensburg Road.

 The Marine Reserves Working Group will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday. The agenda includes discussion of Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s recent press release in which he suggested 10 or fewer marine reserves be instituted and that funding would have to be in place first; revisions to the current policy document regarding marine reserves; reviewing the timeline for which the reserves be established; the marine reserves nominating process; and a report from the first meeting of the Outreach Committee that met Nov. 26 in Newport.

 Jessica Hamilton, natural resources adviser to Kulongoski, organized the first meeting of the group after earlier OPAC members suggested arranging outreach programs for Oregon coastal communities. A tentative schedule will be drawn up of meetings for early 2008.

 The working group also will consider the timeline for marine reserves implementation.

 “In recognition of the numerous resolutions critical of the timeline and process received from coastal governments, fishing industry representatives and other coastal residents, the MRWG, with the exception of one member, recommended delaying the process from three to six months,” the working group’s situation summary said.

Members of the public will have a chance to speak at the working group meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Later, from 3:30 to to 5:30 p.m., the Wave Energy Working Group will meet to hear updates about the wave energy industry in Oregon.

On Friday, OPAC will consider a variety of issues, including updating the Oregon Ocean and Territorial Sea Plans; the results of a Wave Energy Ecological Effects Workshop and Cumulative Effects Scoping meeting that was held in October; hear an update from the previous day’s working group meeting and continue with marine reserves planning.

The council will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. General public comment about ocean issues will be heard at 11:30 a.m. Public comments specifically relating to marine reserves will be taken at 1:30 p.m.

For more information, those interested can call Greg McMurray at (503) 373-0050 or contact him by e-mail at  gregory.mcmurray@state.or.us. Detailed agendas can be found online at http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/OPAC/index.shtml. However none of the current OPAC working or draft documents are available online.