The Promote and Develop Fishery Products & Research Pertaining to American Fisheries Fund receives 30 percent of the import duties the Department of Agriculture collects on fishery-related products. A portion of these funds is used to offset marine fishery resource programs in the "Operations, Research and Facilities" appropriation in FY 2000. The remainder of the funds is used to promote industry development through competitively-awarded external grants for innovative research and development of projects in the fishing industry and for internal research that complements the external program. The Fisheries Finance Program Account (formerly Fishing Vessel Obligation Guarantee Fund) is used by fishermen to refinance existing debt, obtain loans to renovate and repair existing vessels, and facilities, and to construct new processing plants for underutilized species, acquaculture, and waste reduction. Vessel loans do not increase overcapitalization in the fishing industry; they either reduce fishing capacity or are capacity neutral. The re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act in October 1996 changed the program to provide direct loans rather than loan guarantees previously made under the Fishing Vessel Obligation Guarantee appropriation. The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Account is established in FY 2000 to fund a new Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery initiative for the purpose of sharing the costs of state, local, and tribal salmon conservation initiatives. Utilization of this fund will support NOAA's contribution to a broad interdepartmental initiative bolstering Federal capabilities to assist in the conservation of at-risk salmon runs in the western states of California, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Grants will be matched dollar for dollar with non-Federal contributions. The fund will be established under the Secretary of Commerce's existing authorities under the Endangered Species Act, and will be made available through agreements with the Governors of each state for distribution to state, local and tribal efforts. The Secretary will also establish terms and conditions to ensure effective use of the funds as well as specific reporting requirements to ensure full accountability by users of the fund. The Damage Assessment and Restoration Revolving Fund (DARRF) receives proceeds from claims against responsible parties as determined through court settlements or agreements for both damage assessment and restoration costs. In FY 1999 and prior, funds were transferred to the Operations, Research and Facilities account for purposes of damage assessment and restoration. Beginning in FY 2000, funds will be expended in the DARRF and treated as mandatory budget authority. The Procurement. Acquisition and Construction (PAC) account, established in FY 1998 as an annual appropriation, includes costs associated with the acquisition of NOAA's major capital assets. In FY 2000, NOAA is requesting advanced funding in annual increments for its multi-year capital projects. The requirement for full funding of multi-year capital projects through advanced annual appropriations is designed to ensure that agencies account for the entire Federal liability for a given project, and/or divisible segment. Full funding is supported by the Administration as part of an on-going attempt to improve cost and performance of agency procurements. Included in this account are three activities: "Systems Acquisition" which contains projects associated with modernizing NOAA's weather services, including satellite procurements; "Construction" which contains projects involving new construction, or major modification of existing facilities; and "Fleet Modernization" which contains funding to support modernization of NOAA's fleet of research vessels either through new construction, major modification to existing vessels, or acquisition of capacity from third parties. Performance Measures For FY 2000, NOAA has identified a series of performance measures which can be used to assess the effectiveness of its program activities. This list of measures focuses on NOAA's priority programs and program goals and can be expected to evolve over time as NOAA, the Department, and the Administration continue to refine and develop effective performance measures to use them as a key management tool, and to implement the Government Performance and Results Act. NOAA contributes to all three Departmental Strategic Themes. NOAA's goals under Economic Infrastructure include promotion of safe navigation and advancement of short-term weather warnings and forecasts. NOAA's goals under Science/Technology/Information include climate forecasting and predicting climate change. Under the Resources/ Assets Management/Stewardship Theme, NOAA's goals include building sustainable fisheries, recovering protected species and sustaining healthy coasts. To track progress in the implementation of NOAA's Strategic Plan for 1995 - 2005, the following performance measures were developed for each of the seven goals that make up the components of this plan. These measures are among the more important ones used by NOAA to track progress in meeting its goals and objectives. Increase lead time (minutes) and accuracy (%) for severe weather warnings for Tornadoes Increase lead time (minutes) and accuracy (%) for severe weather warnings for Flash Floods Increase lead time (minutes) and accuracy (%) for severe weather warnings for severe Thunderstorms Increase accuracy (km/mi) of warnings within 24 hours of Hurricane landfall Increase lead time (days in advance) for successfully forecasting one inch of precipitation Increase accuracy (%) of correct forecasts for heavy Snowfall Increase the accuracy (in degrees F) of Temperatures averaged for all forecasts periods and cycles Target 12 min 70% accuracy 46 min 86% accuracy 20 min 85% accuracy 130km/ 81 mi 2.4 days 60% Correct: 87% Freezing: 80% |