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Chairmen and members of the Subcommittees, on behalf of the 36 member 

 institutions of Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) I 

 would like to thank you for the opportunity to testify at this important hearing. 



We've heard insightful testimony this morning from a very distinguished panel 

 of witnesses. This panel represents some of the highest leadership and best 

 minds the scientific community has to offer. I think that several clear messages 

 have been presented. First, our Nation's long-term investment in oceanographic 

 science and technology has paid enormous dividends in the past: 



Predicting El Nino events and their devastating effects on regional climates 

 (droughts, floods, and crop yields) and fisheries; 



Maintaining superiority in undersea surveillance and antisubmarine warfare; 



Providing the fundamental concepts related to the beginning of life forms on 

 earth, which can in turn, lead to discoveries in such important fields as 

 biomedicine; 



Saving hundreds of thousands of lives through forecasts of coastal hazards 

 (including tsunamis and hurricanes); 



Establishing a whole industry based upon commercially viable fish farms and 

 aquaculture facilities; and 



Locating and building oil platforms to maximize production and to survive the 

 extremes of the ocean environment. 



These and other advances have been major factors in the winning of the Cold 

 War, the development of billions of dollars in revenues for coastal communities 

 from tourism and marine industries, the savings of lives and mitigation of 

 tremendous property damage from accurate hazard prediction and well-mapped 

 shipping routes. 



We've heard from the Navy, the National Science Foundation and the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration how these factors affect the roles and 

 missions of their agencies. We've heard from experts discussing relationships of 

 the government with industry and academia. We would have liked for the 

 other agencies who have a significant role in oceanographic science and 

 technology to have been here today. Unfortunately, time constraints prohibited 

 the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration, the Minerals Management Service and the US Geological 



