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TOWARD NEW PARTNERSHIPS IN OCEAN SCIENCES 27 



As the context in which oceanography is conducted changes, 

 how can partnerships between federal agencies and oceanographers 

 in academic and private institutions be strengthened and improved? 

 In general, the partnerships must extend beyond financial rela- 

 tionships to include the sharing of intellect, data, instrument de- 

 velopment, facilities, and labor. Key elements in such partner- 

 ships are encouraging individual scientists to take intellectual 

 risks in advancing basic knowledge, providing support that is tied 

 to solving existing problems, and encouraging scientists to coop- 

 erate in the development of large shared research endeavors. 



Communication 



Many mission agencies and academic scientists have little ex- 

 perience interacting with one another, but both groups would benefit 

 from doing so. The board recommends that each agency with an 

 ocean mission and without existing strong links to the nongovernment 

 community establish permanent mechanisms for ensuring outside 

 scientific advice, review, and interaction. The obvious advantage 

 of external consultation is that it provides an objective evaluation 

 of agency needs and poses possible solutions from a new perspec- 

 tive. The National Research Council (NRC) is but one possible 

 source of external advice. These advisory groups should report to 

 a level sufficiently high that their views are presented directly to 

 agency policy makers and the relationships are eventually institu- 

 tionalized to establish a collective memory. 



The board recognizes that the existence of multiple marine 

 agencies with differing mandates brings a vigor and diversity to 

 the field. However, the lack of coordination and cooperation among 

 agencies that conduct or sponsor marine research detracts from 

 this advantage. Informal attempts at coordination have been largely 

 unsuccessful; a formal mechanism is necessary. The board rec- 

 ommends that, because no single agency is charged with and able 

 to oversee the total national marine science agenda, an effective 

 means be found for the agencies to interact at the policy level and 

 formulate action plans. 



One model for such interaction is the Committee on Earth 

 and Environmental Sciences of the Federal Coordinating Council 

 for Science, Engineering, and Technology. Regardless of the coor- 

 dinating mechanism chosen, it must permit the agencies to de- 

 velop a synergistic approach to addressing national problems and 

 to coordinating programs and infrastructure. High-priority tasks 

 for such a group would be examination of the appropriate balance 



