Marine Science Affairs 



Fostering Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation 



Federal agencies support several hundred projects involving bilateral 

 cooperation, including the following types of programs: 



— accommodation of foreign oceanographers on U.S. research platforms 



and in U.S. laboratories; 

 — coordinated research projects involving U.S. and foreign ships; 

 — support of research conducted at foreign laboratories; 

 — support of U.S. scientists providing advice to foreign governments; 

 — training of foreign specialists at U.S. facilities in fishing technology, 



military oceanography, and safety at sea; 

 — cooperation in joint search and rescue missions; 

 — exchange of navigational aids and information ; 

 — exchange of the right to reproduce foreign facsimile charts; 

 — technical assistance in surveying foreign harbors ; 

 — magnetic aerial reconnaissance surveys of foreign coastal areas; 

 — support of regional marine specimen collection and sorting activities; 

 — joint studies of erosion, delta development, and other nearshore 



processes affecting the coastline ; and 

 — risk guarantees for private fishery investment abroad. 

 In addition the United States participates in a wide variety of multilateral 

 activities including: 



— collection of environmental data through ships of opportunity; 

 — participation in the Pacific tsunami ^'^ warning system; 

 — broad dissemination of weather and ocean data including data ac- 

 quired from satellites; 

 — conducting the International Ice Patrol; 



— support of international banking loans for fishery and port develop- 

 ment; and 

 — broadened collection and dissemination of hydrographic data and 

 charts. 

 The United States has bilateral science agreements with Italy, Iran, and 

 Australia for potential cooperation in marine science. The U.S. -Japan 

 Agreement on Natural Resources has been explicitly expanded to include 

 marine sciences. An informal understanding is under discussion betw^een 

 the Marine Sciences Council and France's counterpart, the National Coun- 

 cil for the Exploitation of the Oceans (CNEXO), for cooperative efforts 

 between U.S. and French specialists. During the recent visit to the United 

 States of the Prime Minister of Barbados, the President noted the importance 

 of a bilateral agreement for a major air/sea interaction experiment 



" Seismic sea wave. 



60 



