The second conference, held in 1997, focused on the release of California's ocean and coastal resource management strategy, California's Ocean Resources: An Agenda for the Future. CWO '02 provided a forum to identify advances made over the past five years and to help chart the course for new initiatives to protect, enhance, and manage California's extraordinary ocean and coastal resources.

The success of the conference was in large part a result of the outstanding financial and in–kind support from over 50 organizations. Almost 900 people from the U.S. and other nations attended the conference. Approximately 300 papers and posters addressed fisheries and ecosystem management, beach processes, coastal economics, research and technology, energy and transportation, education, environmental toxins, watershed management, water quality, environmental indicators, and habitat management.

Conferees were welcomed the first evening with inspirational words from Congresswoman Lois Capps and Assemblyman Fred Keeley. Conference chairs, Mary D. Nichols (Secretary, Resources Agency), Winston H. Hickox (Secretary, Cal/EPA), and Honorary Chair Orville T. Magoon (Coastal Zone Foundation) launched the event, followed by comments from Deputy Under Secretary for Commerce Tim Keeney and Assemblywoman Hanna–Beth Jackson. Guest speaker Captain Robert Ross from the U.S. Coast Guard provided a timely presentation on a post–9/11 Coast Guard.

During Monday's lunch, CWO '02 conferees were treated to keynote remarks from Mr. Leon Panetta (Pew Oceans Commission Chair) and Mr. William Ruckelshaus (U.S. Oceans Commission Governance Committee Chair). This session provided a preview of the vision these commissions will soon release regarding the need for the U.S. to overhaul many aspects of ocean and coastal governance.

CWO '02 celebrated the 30–year anniversary of the federal Coastal Zone Management and Clean Water acts and California's Proposition 20 of 1972. Speakers representing the Coastal Commission, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, State Coastal Conservancy, State Water Resources Control Board, and Natural Resources Defense Council cited numerous accomplishments and identified future challenges. A highlight of the event was an award honoring the legacy of Robert Knecht, the first director of the U.S. Coastal Zone Management Program and the ongoing work of Dr. Biliana Cicin–Sain, director of the Center for the Study of Marine Policy at the University of Delaware. The final session featured Mr. David Rockefeller (Rockefeller & Co., Inc and the Pew Oceans Commission) and Mr. Terry Tamminen (Executive Director, Environment Now). These speakers reflected on ocean and coastal resource management, governance, and the role of the philanthropic community and public service organizations in California and around the world.

The conference proceedings will include transcripts of the plenary sessions and papers. This work will be invaluable as California moves forward in revising its Ocean Agenda. For further information, visit the CWO '02 conference website at http://resources.ca.gov/ocean/CWO_02.