problems of sedimentation and flooding. Insects, 

 disease, and fire continue to take a heavy toll. 

 Developing countries have shown an interest in U.S. and 

 FAO expertise on forest planning and policy, and the 

 United States should be prepared to respond to requests 

 for assistance. 



16. Research on the Marine Environment 



Partly as a result of agreements reached at the 

 U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea, coastal 

 countries will acquire new rights to, and 

 responsibilities toward, living resources and 

 protection of the marine environment within 200 miles 

 of their shores. But the effective exercise of these 

 rights and responsibilities will require more 

 scientific understanding, cooperation, and mutual 

 sharing of information than is now available. 



Not enough is known, for example, about the earth's 

 estuarine and coastal resources, especially their 

 management to ensure sustained, multiple use at high 

 levels of productivity. Nor is the background 

 information yet available to understand the rather 

 complex array of water movements from within estuaries 

 to the continental shelves and along the shelves where 

 the ocean meets more shallow water. Such information 

 should add considerably to our understanding of coastal 

 fisheries, distribution of urban and industrial wastes, 

 and the extent to which offshore mining and sewage 

 disposal, marine transport operations, and recreational 

 activities may affect and be affected by the use of 

 biological marine resources in adjacent areas. 

 Planners would then be better able to assess tradeoffs 

 among potential uses of marine resources. 



Pvecent large-scale international oceanographic 

 programs — the International Decade of Ocean Exploration 

 (IDOE) and the Global Atmospheric Research Program — 

 have advanced the state of knowledge concerning 

 coupling between the atmosphere and the oceans. 

 Testable hypotheses and theories now exist, in 

 particular on the connections between ocean and coastal 

 shelf circulation in a number of regions and how these 

 events may affect fluctuations in the productivity of 

 major fisheries. Within the U.S. oceanographic 

 community, there is considerable interest in studying 

 these and related phenomena, but a mutually agreed 

 basis for sharing of information is needed. 



Marine research is necessarily international and 

 cooperative, since scientists need access to the waters 

 of other nations to obtain data and samples. Many 

 developing countries are only now beginning to 

 recognize the need for personnel trained in marine 



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