41 



searchers and their counterparts in ocean resources sciences at 

 NOAA. Our collaborative efforts with NOAA are essential to the 

 conduct of good science, and internationally, this partnership has 

 expanded to include informal research partnerships with research 

 agencies in scores of foreign countries. 



NSF has also been a major proponent of an international pro- 

 gram under the International Council for the Exploration of the 

 Sea. 



Research on the multiple factors that affect commercial fish pop- 

 ulations is exemplified in our Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics 

 Program, called GLOBEC, which we initiated three years ago to 

 understand the collapse of the cod and haddock fisheries in the 

 George's Bank region off the coast of New England and up the 

 coast of Newfoundland. Representatives of the commercial fisheries 

 industry have participated in this program. 



On the U.S. side, extensive effective partnerships have been de- 

 veloped among NSF, NOAA, NASA, DOE and ONR to provide both 

 needed data and the tools needed to interpret this data. 



The NSF and our federal partners, however, cannot support all 

 the research and the ship operations, the data analysis, and the 

 modeling required on the global scale. 



On the international scene, we're working with over 30 countries 

 to meet the scientific program requirements. These global pro- 

 grams require deployment of the research vessels to all the major 

 oceans of the world. 



The development and support of the U.S. academic research fleet 

 represents a particularly effective and long-standing partnership 

 between NSF and ONR that has developed over the past 25 years^ 

 This particular partnership has resulted in a world-class fleet of 

 ocean research vessels. It's the result of mutual trust and a shared 

 understanding of the fundamental research that is important in 

 ocean sciences for national security, but also for economic vitality 

 and environmental monitoring. 



Ocean science research can help us understand the role of the 

 oceans in global phenomenon, including near-term weather pre- 

 diction, long-termi climate change, coastal ecology, and the impact 

 of pollution on the environment. It can also provide an understand- 

 ing of the ocean as a source of food, of minerals, and of energy. 



The ocean research supported by NSF is an example of the close 

 connection between fundamental research on topics of pure sci- 

 entific interest and the value that that research has for real-world 

 concerns. 



The National Science Foundation has recently completed a stra- 

 tegic planning process that stresses the need to promote not only 

 the discovery of new knowledge, but its employment in service to 

 society. 



In the past, many in the research community felt that their mis- 

 sion was to use technology to probe the mysteries of nature, and 

 that certainly is a very important mission. 



But our goal at NSF is to expand this vision of the researcher's 

 responsibility so that research can be more clearly related to na- 

 tional interests. 



All federal agencies are facing budgetary pressures as we strug- 

 gle to balance the budget. We cannot take for granted that research 



