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Our legislation, which represents an extraordinary opportunity 

 for the United States to capitalize on an emerging growth field in 

 which its leadership is being challenged by determined inter- 

 national competition. 



Marine biotechnology, which uses molecular and cellular tech- 

 niques to develop new products from marine organisms, has shown 

 the ability to create new materials, improved aquaculture, and sea- 

 food products, better techniques for environmental remediation, 

 and new pharmaceuticals from the sea. 



This field has the proven capacity not only to revolutionize our 

 use of marine resources, but also to improve our ability to manage 

 those resources, which are becoming increasingly scarce. 



We cannot afford to lose yet another promising new technology 

 to our international competitors, whose governments are subsidiz- 

 ing efforts to bring to market the advances in marine biotechnology 

 pioneered in the United States. 



It is particularly appropriate that our marine biotechnology ini- 

 tiative be established in the National Sea Grant College Program. 



As you know, Mr. Chairman, I introduced the Sea Grant Act in 

 1966, and this small program has amassed an extraordinary record 

 of scientific accomplishment and economic benefit over more than 

 two decades. 



I know of few programs anywhere that have the demonstrated 

 economic impact of the Sea Grant Program — a proven return of 

 more than 20 times the amount of the Federal investment, despite 

 declining resources over more than a decade. 



In addition, because Sea Grant is a matching funds program, it 

 is also a highly leveraged Federal investment in which nearly one- 

 half of the total program cost is derived from State and local gov- 

 ernments, university funds, and support from private citizens. 



Sea Grant has the necessary balance of applied science to stimu- 

 late new advancements in marine biotechnology, education pro- 

 grams to train the skilled workforce that is needed, and outreach 

 through the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service to transfer promis- 

 ing new technologies to the private sector. 



The single largest interagency research effort underway in the 

 United States today is in the field of biotechnology, at well over $4 

 billion per year. Yet only 1 percent of this amount is available for 

 research in the promising new field of marine biotechnology, and 

 that amount has remained flat for the past 3 years. 



We need legislation for the field of marine biotechnology to help 

 promote and keep up with the explosive growth that has occurred 

 in biotechnology in general. Marine biotechnology represents the 

 kind of high-wage, high-technology, and high-skill initiative that is 

 needed to revitalize the U.S. economy, while creating new jobs na- 

 tionwide. 



We need to respond to the priorities of the new administration 

 in developing new partnerships between industry and Government, 

 and preparing our economy to compete in the 21st century. 



Our marine biotechnology initiative would establish within the 

 Sea Grant Program encourages investigators throughout the Unit- 

 ed States to compete for funding, and ensures fair and open com- 

 petition through a national panel of expert reviewers. 



