327 



NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 



2T0I coNsrrrunoN avenue Washington, d. c. 20418 



OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN 



The ocean has always had a profound influence on human life 

 and activities. It has been an important source of food and 

 means of commerce. However, it has also been a threat to human 

 life as a focus of war and through its encroachment onto land. 

 In recent decades, the United States has been the world leader in 

 ocean research, both in basic studies and research on the ocean's 

 practical influence on human activities. This pioneering work 

 has largely been the result of remarkably successful partnerships 

 between Federal agencies and research in universities, in which 

 federal agencies support the research of academic scientists and 

 academic scientists provide advice on internal and external 

 research by a variety of mechanisms. 



However, the world in which these partnerships were created 

 and sustained is changing rapidly. Concerns about the ocean as a 

 medium for warfare and as a threat to national security are 

 decreasing while environmental problems of the coastal zone and 

 understanding how the ocean controls -climate are of increasing 

 importance. Also, major advances in understanding the ocean and 

 in the development of technologies for observing it have set the 

 stage for much greater research achievements. But the potential 

 for such achievement must be set against the human and financial 

 costs of sustaining science. For we are now in a period in which 

 the importance of better understanding the ocean is ever more 

 clear while the resources necessary to obtain this understanding 

 are increasingly scarce. 



To understand better what types of partnerships would best 

 serve the United States in the years to come, the Ocean Studies 

 Board of the National Research Council undertook a study of where 

 marine science stands today, how we arrived in this position, and 

 where marine science and technology appear to be headed. This 

 report establishes a framework, in which improved partnerships 

 between the federal government and academic researchers can 

 sustain the advances of the past, and lead our country and the 

 world to greater understanding of the many roles the ocean plays 

 in human life. In their report, the Ocean Studies Board 

 recognizes the ever-growing urgency of the applications but also 

 emphasizes the importance of maintaining the health of the basic 

 science on which all policy decisions must be ultimately based. 

 Although obtaining the proper balance in research funding is 

 essential to national security — in its broad sense — it will not 

 be easy. The Board recommends the use of series of coordinated 

 federal-academic partnerships to achieve a balance in funding 

 among the agencies and a corresponding vitality in basic and 

 applied ocean research. 



THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 15 TOE PRINCIPAL OPERATTNC AGENCY Of THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND THE NAHONAL ACADEMY OF ENCINEERINC 

 TO SERVE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 



