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[The information referred to follows:] 



Sea Grant Biotechnology 



Biotechnology holds the promise of further enhancing aquaculture through pro- 

 duction of cloned vaccines for animal diseases, development of disease-resistant 

 strains with improved growth and food conversion characteristics, control of repro- 

 ductive processes at a fundamental level, design, and demonstration of recirculating 

 containment systems, and advancement of a range of science and technology needed 

 to culture marine finfish especially. The marine aquacultural industry has the po- 

 tential to employ tens of thousands of additional workers and reduce imbalance of 

 trade of seafood by hundreds of millions of dollars. 



Use of marine species in bioremediation is just beginning to develop, but already 

 there are applications using them to detoxify organic pollutants such as petroleum 

 and toxicants in industrial brines. Current efforts focus primarily on the isolation 

 and culture of microorganisms capable of carrying out specific chemical trans- 

 formations. The metabolic pathways that lead to these transformations can then be 

 identified, the genetic basis determined, and the organisms cultured or genetically 

 enhanced and used in bioreactors to detoxify pollutants. 



Marine biotechnology has the potential of providing rapid assays for viral, bac- 

 terial, and chemical contaminants in seafood and thereby making implementation 

 of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) procedures in the seafood in- 

 dustry economic and reliable. For example, Sea Grant research developed a rapid 

 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of Vibrio cholerae, 

 the bacterium that causes cholera. A commercial firm has adapted this technology 

 to produce a small handheld kit into which a dipstick, previously exposed to sample, 

 can be inserted. A squeeze of the fingers exposes the sample to diagnostic reagents. 

 Within 10 minutes a positive sample produces a solar reaction discernible to the 

 naked eye. The company sent millions of these kits to South America where they 

 are being used to combat an epidemic of cholera. 



Marine biotechnology holds promise for advancing science and providing the tech- 

 nical basis for products, processes, and job creation in the pharmaceutical and chem- 

 ical industries. For example, the natural products and biodegradable polymers you 

 heard about from the presidents of OsteoArthritis Sciences, Inc. and Donlar Corp., 

 respectively at the April 29 hearing on marine biotechnology have the potential to 

 provide hundreds of millions of dollars annually of U.S. products to international 

 markets and to employ hundreds of people. 



Senator Lott. Well, of course, all of these are very important, 

 but I would be particularly interested in how it would affect aqua- 

 culture, seafood product safety and polymers, and any information 

 you could provide for the record on that would be helpful. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Kerry. Thank you very much. 



Let me just comment as I turn to Senator Dorgan. As I listen to 

 your answers to the questions of Senator Lott and also my own, it 

 leaps out at me that you have really been handed an extraordinary 

 can of worms. I think it is important for us to acknowledge that. 

 We have got to work together very quickly to see how we begin to 

 redress the budget situation realistically, because we have watched 

 the NOAA mission growing. Each year, your predecessors have sat 

 there and said that they were working things out or that funding 

 was going to be adequate, and it has really been kind of a shell 

 game. You have now inherited a situation where, as you lift up the 

 shells, you find that there is no pea anywhere. 



Senator Lott. Senator, if you would yield on that. 



I think we have continued to give them more and more respon- 

 sibility and more and more cans of worms. And without blaming 

 any division of Government or any particular person, I do not think 

 we have given them the funds to do the task we have assigned 

 them. 



