We're all anxious to hear from our panelists, but I'd like to make 

 a few opening comments. 



First, I'd like to draw attention to the state of the world's oceans 

 from an international perspective before we look to the future of 

 oceanography in the U.S. 



And to that end, I would suggest to our colleagues that have not 

 read Sylvia Earle's book, "Sea Change," that they do so, because 

 perhaps it sets the tone for the need for us to aggressively look at 

 a new focus on the oceans in 1996 and beyond. 



I recently returned this past weekend from Russia, where I vis- 

 ited both Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Moscow delivering a land- 

 mark letter from Speaker Gingrich to the new speaker of the Rus- 

 sian Duma, Mr. Soleviev, where we advocated setting up a direct 

 Duma-to-Congress forum similar to our Congress-Bundestag forum 

 where member of Congress can interact with the Duma on a vari- 

 ety of issues. 



One of the leading issues that will take precedence in that new 

 process is the environment, and one of the subgroups will be the 

 oceans. 



In addition, we also in that letter asked the speaker of the Rus- 

 sian Duma to establish a direct Internet linkage between members 

 of Congress and the Duma so that we can break down the barriers 

 of communication and communicate directly with leaders, not just 

 of the Russian Duma, but the other major parliaments of the 

 world, on issues involving security, energy, other major concerns, 

 but certainly the oceans and the environment. 



In St. Petersburg, I was able to participate in a conference on the 

 protection of Russian's northern Arctic environment. The con- 

 ference was hosted by the Advisory Committee on the Protection of 

 the Seas — ACOPS — for which I serve as the United States Vice 

 President. 



This meeting was a follow-up to a hearing we held in December 

 in this Congress, where Alexia Yoblakof, one of the leading envi- 

 ronmentalists in Russia, and Kara Brjoin, the foreign minister for 

 the environment from Norway, spoke before our subcom^mittees on 

 the problems of the Arctic environment, and particularly how we're 

 assisting them through the Department of Defense in dealing with 

 the terrible problem of dumped nuclear waste. 



While this particular conference focused on one specific area of 

 concern, I had the opportunity to discuss the overall health of our 

 ocean environment with other legislators from around the world, 

 including members of the Russian Duma, the Japanese Diet, and 

 the European Parliament. 



It is clear that there is an international commitment to ensuring 

 the health and ecological balance of our world's oceans. So it is 

 timely that we gather here today to revive our nation's commit- 

 ment to ocean research and to discuss ways to more effectively 

 focus our efforts. 



Not since the Presidential Stratton Commission on revitalization 

 of oceanography over 25 years ago, has there been this degree of 

 interest and attention to the importance of ocean research. 



As Chairman of the Research and Development Subcommittee of 

 the House National Security Committee, which oversees $35 billion 

 a year of military research and development, much of it going to 



