emphasis to the crucial role the oceans play in our survival on earth, 

 and to confirm that the IDOE was a timely and needed effort. 



One sitJ^nificant develppment that may call for G^reater emphasis on 

 those guidelines concerned with international cooperation is the c^rpw^ng 

 prospect of extended jurisdiction of coastal nations over their offshore 

 waters. This increases the likehhood that the approval and cooperation 

 of coastal nations will become essential for research wdthin those waters, 

 and suggests that more emphasis be placed on those aspects of the IDOE 

 program most likely to generate response among other coastal nations. 



Have larric, directed research projects been effective in addressing the 

 problems posed by the original guidelines? 



We feel they have, as far as the scientific problems go. The IDOE 

 Office has attempted to ensure that projects have not only been major 

 efforts involving large numbers of investigators, but that they have been 

 comprehensive in scope with components so integrated as to produce a 

 synergistic effect. This latter aspect is difficult to assess, but those projects 

 which have already completed one or more well-defined phases (e.g. 

 MODE, the Atlantic and Pacific legs of GEOSECS, etc.) have demon- 

 strated the effectiveness of this approach in producing results that would 

 have been unlikely otherwise. More to the point, however, is that numer- 

 ous small research projects were already under way, supported by NSF 

 and others, in all of these areas. Additional funds could have been made 

 available for more of the same, and this would certainly have been 

 useful What the IDOE projects have accomplished has been useful in 

 a somewhat different way that is particularly welcome — they have ad- 

 dressed aspects of these problems that could not, generally speaking, have 

 been addressed by conventional small projects. In so doing, not only have 

 they produced useful scientific results, they have also pointed out a new 

 and effective way of taking on big problems, and they have encouraged 

 a willingness to participate in cooperative efforts that will, we believe, 

 be increasingly needed in the future. 



Have IDOE findings to date been of high scientific quality, and have 

 these contributed to national and international social, economic, and 



political objectives? 



NACOA has not attempted to assess first hand the scientific quaHty 

 of the IDOE program. We believe there has been adequate review of 

 this aspect by NSF's IDOE Advisory Panel and periodically by the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. 

 What results are available appear to be scientifically sound, and work in 

 progress appears promising. 



Several contributions of a non-scientific nature are worthy of men- 

 tion. The international cooperation generated by the program represents 



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