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Executive Summary 



Ovir national per capita investinent in basic ocean sciences is a minuscule 4c per week'. 

 Yet - using research on El Nino as just one example - the American public has seen more 

 than 100:1 return on its investment in this t^'pe of marine lesearch. The successes of the 

 past are the equity upon which future ocean science investments can be built. 



In 1992 the National Academy of Sciences' Ocean Studies Board prepared a report 

 entitled "Oceanography in the Next Decade," in which new partnerships were identified 

 as the best mechanism to address a plethora of marine related opportunities and 

 problems. The report contained herein builds on the work of the Ocean Studies Board, 

 expanding the definition of the ocean sciences community to include academic, 

 government and private sectors of research, development, applications, and education. 

 This report is a statement of the most critical areas for development of new partnerships 

 in US ocean science; the focus is on how ocean science needs to be done, rather than on 

 Tjhat should be done. 



The Cortsortium for Oceanographic Research and Education conducted this exercise at a 

 particularly opportvme time. Basic research is facing a requirement of increased 

 accountability to society. The ocean science community, recognizing a need to meet this 

 requirement directly, chose to take a proactive approach by redefining its efforts in a 

 context of even greater relevance. In the past, ocean research applied mostly to national 

 defense and a sn\all class of comniercial operations. Through the partnership initiative 

 described in this report, the ocean sciences community has clarified the role their 

 research will play in addressing an even broader set of societal issues and needs. 



The ocean sciences community constructed this report with the support of several 

 Federal agencies, and with the oversight of a Coordinating Group, including 

 representatives of academia, government and industry. A Steering Committee, londer 

 charge of the Coordinating Group, identified the general societally-relevant themes of 

 focus for this Interagency Partnership Initiative: Quality Of Life, Economic 

 Development, National Security, and Education/Communication. Working Groups (in 

 which more than 100 individuals participated) defined past partnerships and future 

 opportiinities for partnerships, within these thematic areas and consistent with the 

 principles of partnership delineated in the recent report of the State-Federal Technology 

 Partnership Task Force (1995). 



