1998 Year of the Ocean Ocean Living Resources 



Box 2: Research Priorities 



The National Research Council (NRC 1995) has identified five 

 fundamental research objectives to better understand marine living resources. 

 These objectives are: 



• 



• 



to understand the patterns, processes, and consequences of changing 

 marine biodiversity by focusing on critical environmental issues and 

 their threshold effects; 



to improve the linkages between the marine ecological and 

 oceanographic sciences; 



to strengthen and expand the field of marine taxonomy; 



to facilitate and encourage the incorporation of (1) new technological 

 advances in sampling and sensing instrumentation, experimental 

 techniques, and molecular genetic techniques; (2) predictive models for 

 hypothesis development, testing, and extrapolations; and (3) historical 

 perspectives in investigations of the patterns, processes and 

 consequences of marine biodiversity; and 



• to use the new understanding of the patterns, processes and 

 consequences of marine biodiversity derived from regional-scale 

 research to improve predictions of the impacts of human activities on 

 the marine environment. 



A Precautionary Approach to Building Sustainable Fisheries 



The United States has realigned its core marine fishery programs to address more 

 effectively the domestic and global crisis confronting living ocean resources. To restore 

 sustainability in this sector, the United States is dedicated to a long-term program of recovery for 

 overfished fisheries in its own 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. It is also working with 

 foreign governments, international organizations, and regional fishery management bodies to 

 move toward the same goal in all other waters. 



The new strategic direction in U.S. fisheries management is based upon the Sustainable 

 Fisheries Act of 1996 (also known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

 Management Act). While not explicitly stated in the Act, the precautionary approach concept 

 shapes the core of mandated acfions to reverse the decline of U.S. fisheries and move toward 

 rebuilding them. 



C-24 



