WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF
RICHARD W. SPINRAD, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
OFFICE OF OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
July 27, 2006
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the
Committee. I am Richard W. Spinrad,
Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Department of
Commerce. Thank you for
inviting me to discuss H.R. 3835 and the role of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in ocean exploration and undersea
research.
NOAA’s
vision is an informed society that uses a comprehensive understanding of the
role of the oceans, coasts, and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the
best social and economic decisions. NOAA’s
mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s
environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s
economic, social, and environmental needs.
NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and National Undersea
Research Program (NURP) are contained within the Office of Oceanic and
Atmospheric Research (OAR). In
support of NOAA’s mission, OAR conducts the scientific research,
environmental studies, and technology development needed to improve our
operations and broaden our understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and
oceans. The Office of Ocean Exploration
is devoted exclusively to the critical mission of exploring the still largely
unknown ocean. The ocean exploration program
focuses on discovery of new ocean resources for societal and economic benefits,
serves as an effective means to promote ocean education and ocean literacy, and
enables NOAA to become aware of ocean issues that may become the basis for
future NOAA missions. NURP harnesses the
academic community to focus on NOAA’s undersea research needs. NURP currently supports NOAA’s mission by providing
undersea scientists inside and outside NOAA with advanced technologies, such as
an underwater laboratory, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, and the
expertise needed to work in the undersea environment.
I am
pleased to be here today to discuss H.R. 3835, an act to establish a
coordinated national ocean exploration program within NOAA. NOAA supports the intent of this
legislation. Title I of the bill
addresses ocean exploration; Title II addresses NOAA’s complementary program in
undersea research. Together, these two
programs provide a solid foundation for the aggressive ocean exploration and
undersea technology program for our nation.
Today, I will outline our current ocean exploration and undersea
research programs, describe our planned merger of these programs, and explain
why this legislation is important to NOAA.
In his preface to the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration
report in 2000, former Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta eloquently stated
the importance of ocean exploration to our nation’s interests and future:
“Our nation’s history,
from colonization and westward expansion to the deployment of the Hubble
telescope, is testament to the fact that America is a country of explorers.
Our pride as a nation is founded upon our yearning to make new discoveries and
to seek out new knowledge. Exploration of the oceans responds to a growing
national interest in our seas and an acknowledgement of their importance to our
environment and quality of life.
We are growing in the awareness that the
ocean influences our daily lives in hundreds of ways. From providing fisheries resources or cures
for disease, to unlocking the secrets of long-term climate variations, we are
constantly reminded of the ocean’s importance in sustaining life. Truly, our
economic, environmental, and national security depends on our ability to
understand the ocean frontier, as well as balancing the competing interests of
conservation and economics.”
Historical
Perspective
In
2007, NOAA will celebrate 200 years of history of science and exploration,
service, and stewardship of our nation’s oceans, coasts, and Great
Lakes. National interest in
establishing a comprehensive ocean exploration program stretches back over 40
years, when, in the late 1960’s, the Stratton Commission initiated the
International Decade of Ocean Exploration.
The resulting programs dramatically enhanced understanding of the global
climate system, geochemical cycling, ocean circulation, plate geodynamics, and
life in extreme environments. In 1971,
NOAA established the Manned Undersea Science and Technology (MUST) program,
which pioneered exploration from undersea habitats. MUST was transitioned in 1980 from a
primarily headquarters program to the extramural NURP. Since then, NURP has continued to provide the
scientific community with the undersea tools to conduct exploration and cutting
edge research.
In
1983, an interagency effort to comprehensively map the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
was initiated. Our EEZ is the largest in
the world spanning over 12,300 miles of coastline and contains 3.4 million square
nautical miles of ocean — larger than the combined land mass of all 50
states. While the surface of the ocean
has been studied via remote sensing for basic physical and biogeochemical
properties, today less than 10% of the U.S. EEZ has been mapped with current
multibeam technology. Less than 5% of
the EEZ has been mapped at a resolution required for accurately defining
habitat. In addition to our nation's
EEZ, approximately 95 percent of the world's oceans have not been visited or
studied in situ. This includes the major
features such as the 31,000 miles of mid-ocean ridge crest, 6,200 miles of deep
sea trenches, over 30,000 seamounts and the water-column of the ocean – which together
are home to 99 percent of the Earth’s living organisms. Because the scope of what remains unknown below
the surface is enormous, we will continue to carefully prioritize the work we
undertake.
Increasing
national interest in ocean exploration, in large part stimulated by
NURP-sponsored activity, culminated in 2000, when a Presidential Panel on Ocean
Exploration convened by the Department of Commerce called for a robust national
ocean exploration program propelled by the spirit of discovery. The panel proposed a strategy of
interdisciplinary expeditions, new partnerships, and integrated federal
programs to characterize the vast array of biological, physical, and chemical
environments of the oceans and foster the development of technology. The panel’s recommendations led to the
establishment of the Office of Ocean Exploration within NOAA in 2001.
In
2003, a National Research Council report expressed support for a comprehensive
national ocean exploration program strongly linked to traditional research,
with broad international partnerships, and a commitment to educational
opportunities. This report was followed
in 2004, by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy recommendation to establish an
expanded ocean exploration program. In
response to the report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, the Administration
developed the U.S. Ocean Action Plan. Ocean
exploration will be addressed in the context of the Ocean Research Priorities
Plan and Implementation Strategy, which was called for as part of the U.S.
Ocean Action Plan. The National Science
and Technology Council Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST)
is currently developing this interagency planning document and implementation
strategy on priorities for ocean science technology for the next 5 to 10 years. As one of the co-chairs of the JSOST (along
with the National Science Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology
Policy) I am closely involved in this work, and can report that we continue to
make progress. On April 4, 2006, we
released our Ocean Priorities Framework for developing the Ocean Research
Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy; the detailed plan is due at the
end of this calendar year.
The Office of
Ocean Exploration
The
recent sustained national interest in ocean exploration has resulted in an
exciting, successful ocean exploration program within NOAA. The mission of this program is to conduct
interdisciplinary ocean exploration expeditions and projects that provide
scientific information as well as technical and educational leadership that
contributes to NOAA’s evolving environmental and economic missions. The
program pursues this mission by focusing on four key
goals:
Explore unknown and poorly known areas of the ocean: Exploration
science expands our understanding of what resources and processes are in the
oceans. The wealth of living and
non-living resources yet to be discovered holds vast untapped economic
potential and offers new opportunities for medical science. For example, microbial organisms that thrive
in deep-sea environments produce novel enzymes and other compounds as a
consequence of living in extremes of temperature and chemistry which have
significant potential for creating bioproducts for use in pharmaceutical and
industrial applications. Recent
screenings show that these marine samples are 20 times more active than their
terrestrial counterparts.
Ocean Mapping: Less than 10 percent of the U.S. EEZ has been mapped with
current technology, and many resources, habitats, and features remain
undiscovered. Our ability to manage
ecosystems is dependent upon our ability to define the area these ecosystems
cover. In conjunction with other NOAA
mapping efforts, ocean exploration routinely maps ocean areas during
expeditions to discover and record the physical, biological, geological, archaeological,
and chemical nature of the oceans. This information is critical for both expanding our
understanding of the U.S. EEZ, and supporting future establishment of the U.S.
continental shelf, where potential resources such as mineral deposits, valued at $1.3 trillion, are estimated to exist.
New
Technology: The Office of Ocean
Exploration invests in new technologies to increase the pace, efficiency and
scope of ocean discovery and to enhance the technical capability of the United
States by promoting the development of improved oceanographic research,
communication, navigation, and data collection systems, as well as underwater
platforms and sensors. The program
coordinates new technology needs and investments with other NOAA programs,
other federal agencies, and through the National Oceanographic Partnership
Program. The program also invests in
projects that test and evaluate new and emerging technologies under live
conditions. A merger of NOAA’s ocean
exploration program and undersea research program, which I will discuss later,
will enhance NOAA’s ability to support emerging technology in these areas.
Education
and Outreach: The President’s Ocean Action Plan calls for promoting
lifelong ocean education as essential for fostering a strong economy, promoting
healthy ecosystems and preparing a competitive workforce with the scientific
understanding needed to balance the sustainable use and conservation of our
natural resources. The ocean exploration
program is a leader in this effort dedicating 10 percent of its budget to
education and outreach to improve ocean literacy in
the United States
and to stimulate interest in ocean science.
The program is uniquely positioned to use interdisciplinary expeditions
as a catalyst to bring the excitement of ocean exploration to teachers and
school children. The program’s
website (www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov)
is rated in the top five worldwide in its category, by a major international
science education authority. This
website, which includes teaching materials for educators, daily logs of
expeditions, immediate reports of the discoveries, and live images of the sea
floor, was visited by more than four million people last year. These efforts are inspiring a whole new generation
to explore and work in the oceans which will help ensure that in the future the
United States
will have a competitive edge in the oceans and remain a global leader in ocean
science and technology.
In
less than five years, the Office of Ocean Exploration has been able to
successfully leverage federal funding, equipment, and expertise to assemble
interdisciplinary teams of scientist-explorers in support of more than 100
ocean expeditions and projects to unknown and poorly known areas of the
ocean. These ocean expeditions have discovered
many new marine ecosystems (including fish and coral habitats); new species of
micro and macro-organisms; and chemical and geological processes that impact
the oceans such as large quantities of carbon dioxide produced by underwater
volcanoes. These expeditions have also
mapped thousands of square miles of ocean floor that had never been mapped
before, where they discovered new landforms, including large submarine
volcanoes, seamounts, and extensive areas of deep water coral reef and sponge
habitats.
NOAA’s partnerships with other federal agencies, academia,
industry, ocean institutions and scientists from U.S. and international
organizations are a vital component of NOAA’s ocean exploration program. Together with our partners, NOAA increases
our national understanding of ocean systems and processes by undertaking 6 to
10 major voyages of discovery per year and funding up to 25 additional missions
and exploration-related projects per year.
All expeditions are selected through a rigorous peer-reviewed process. The program spends approximately 70 percent
of its funds outside of NOAA on science that benefits the nation’s
understanding of the oceans and ecosystems.
Programs
across NOAA benefit from new sources and scales of information generated by the
Office of Ocean Exploration. These
benefits include greater knowledge of living marine resources, their habitats,
and ecosystems which enhance fisheries and ocean stewardship and comprehensive
site surveys and inventories that inform management of NOAA’s National Marine
Sanctuaries. The program’s
characterization of the EEZ improves the management of habitat and marine
resources, and by providing inventories of our nation’s submerged cultural and
historical resources, the Office of Ocean Exploration aids in the preservation
of this heritage. The Office of Ocean
Exploration also provides important governance and scientific investigation in
support of the international Census of Marine Life, which is helping to
identify important breeding areas and inform strategies for sustainable
management.
The
Office of Ocean Exploration’s efforts are, in turn, supported by other programs
within NOAA including the National
Oceanographic Data
Center, which provides
vital data access, archive, and assessment support. NOAA has also assembled a team of data and
information experts from its National Geophysical Data
Center, the National Coastal
Data Development
Center, NURP, and the
NOAA Library to ensure the broadest public access and use of the results from
its ocean expeditions. This team has developed procedures for ensuring
archival and public access to the variety of the data products generated on
these expeditions including underwater video, which has become an important new
source for quantitative data about the ocean environment, as well as for
stimulating public interest and life-long learning.
We will see more opportunity for learning and discovery
through ocean exploration when a new vessel dedicated to ocean exploration
joins the NOAA fleet. After conversion, a former
Navy vessel will be commissioned and named NOAA vessel Okeanos Explorer. The
vessel will be available in 2008 to serve the nation as a premier
ocean research platform to conduct critical deep-sea missions including ocean
floor mapping and biological and chemical oceanographic research. The vessel will also be equipped for
“telepresence”, a satellite-based communications technology that allows
shore-side scientists, teachers, and students to connect in near real-time with
scientists at sea and to view images from the ocean and seafloor using
high-speed Internet. The near real-time
data and images are transmitted to science command centers ashore where teams
of scientists augment the work of scientists and explorers at sea. By bringing multiple high-quality video
streams and sensor data from the remote seafloor to scientists, teachers, and
students on shore, the potential exists to revolutionize oceanographic research
and ocean education. “Telepresence”
technology was successfully pioneered on a NOAA-sponsored expedition to the
deep-sea hydrothermal vent field known as the "Lost City"
on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in July 2005.
The goals and missions of the current Ocean Exploration and
Undersea Research Programs not only complement existing programs at NOAA, they
also form the basis for growing partnerships with the National Science
Foundation, and other federal agencies. For example, NOAA’s Office of Ocean
Exploration has initiated a pilot partnership with the National Science
Foundation that has recently resulted in a highly successful, jointly funded
exploration expedition to the Galapagos Ridge.
This is a model for future, jointly funded cruises that support both
OE's and NSF's interests in exploring unknown areas of the ocean.
NOAA’s ocean exploration program is a national program that
provides the opportunity of discovery to our partners in academia, federal and
state agencies, and industry. No other
federal dedicated source of funding or logistics exists for discovery-based
ocean science. The economic and social
benefits of discovery are significant and the promise of future discovery is
clear; wherever the program has looked, new discoveries and information have
been found.
The National Undersea Research Program
NURP
has served NOAA and the nation for over 25 years as an underwater research and
technology program. NURP places
scientists underwater using advanced technologies, either directly or remotely,
and focuses its considerable expertise and connections to the academic
community on NOAA’s undersea research agenda.
In recent years, the program has functioned
through a network of 6 regional centers and an institute, hosted primarily by
universities. Two centers are located on
the West Coast in Hawaii and Alaska,
and four are located on the East Coast in North Carolina,
New Jersey, Connecticut,
and Florida.
NURP has a proven record of providing the advanced
technologies and infrastructure necessary to support undersea research and
exploration operations for both the academic community and NOAA. Through regional competitive processes, the
program sponsors cutting edge undersea research, which is applicable to NOAA’s
stewardship and management missions. The
program also fosters innovative uses of existing technologies to meet undersea
exploration and research challenges.
Through ownership or leasing, NURP has provided undersea systems that
work from the coast to the deep sea. For
example:
·
NURP owns and operates the Aquarius, the world's
only underwater science laboratory, located in the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary. Aquanauts live on and study
sensitive coral reef ecosystems threatened by natural and human-caused impacts
and are able to perform studies not possible through traditional diving
techniques.
·
NURP operates undersea remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) that increase the
access of researchers to the depth and breadth of the oceans.
·
NURP owns and operates the Pisces IV and V,
human occupied submersibles that enable scientists to explore the deep
ocean-depths down to 6,000 feet. In
partnership with the Office of Ocean Exploration in the summer of 2005, the
Pisces submersibles completed a historic expedition to the South Pacific where
scientists examined more than 20 previously unexplored sub-sea volcanic
ecosystems. The program also provides
scientists with access to research submarines including the Alvin,
Johnson Sea-Link, and Delta submersibles.
·
NURP, as the lead office for fulfilling NOAA’s
statutory responsibility to improve the safety and performance of civilian
divers, has supported advanced diving techniques, which enable researchers to
explore and characterize little known habitats such as deep corals.
·
NURP supports pioneering uses of technologies
such as multibeam sonar, advanced cameras, and seabed observing instrumentation
to address emerging ocean exploration and undersea ocean observing, sampling,
monitoring and modeling issues for the National Ocean Service and the National Marine
Fisheries Service within NOAA.
NOAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) share the mission of exploration in remote and hostile ocean and space environments,
respectively. Humans working both in
space and under the ocean face similar challenges of lack of oxygen, weightlessness,
extreme pressure differentials, and remote, cramped living quarters. Currently, the National Undersea Research
Program and NASA conduct a uniquely successful partnership in which astronauts
train and simulate moon exploration at the Aquarius undersea laboratory. In addition to the operational benefits, this
partnership provides a springboard for increased leveraging of exploration
technology development between NOAA and NASA.
In FY 2006, Congress appropriated funds for NURP at a level
significantly below the President’s budget request. This reduction eliminated support for the
four East Coast centers, and reduced funding at the West Coast and Polar
Regions Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, by one half. NOAA redirected a small amount of funds
internally to enable NURP to maintain essential personnel and equipment at the
four centers during restructuring efforts.
NURP, as supported by the Administration’s FY2007 request, will include both
an East and West Coast capability.
Further details of the restructuring are currently under discussion in
consonance with the merger of the program with NOAA’s Office of Ocean
Exploration.
Office of Ocean Exploration and
NURP Merger
In FY 2007, NOAA will further address the need for ocean technology
development by refocusing the priorities, direction, and partnerships of its
National Undersea Research Program and merging it with the Office of Ocean
Exploration (OE) (the Appropriations Committees concurred with this
reorganization in 2005). Both NURP and
OE strive to meet NOAA, national, and international needs for innovative
undersea exploration and research. The
merger of the two programs will help meet these needs and also effectively
address NOAA’s undersea technology requirements. Merging
the two programs will more efficiently utilize our resources to focus on
exploration and undersea technology challenges; expand the excitement of ocean
exploration with a regional network of partnerships; and take advantage of
efficiencies of time, personnel, and funding between both programs. The merged program will also allow NOAA to
capitalize on the synergy between these programs to achieve the goal of
expanding exploration into focused research, and then to finding operational or
commercial applications for our discoveries.
Together, these programs will
provide a more robust program of ocean discovery.
This merger is also
an opportunity for NOAA to increase its emphasis and effectiveness in utilizing
and developing advanced undersea technology.
Despite recent technological advances, the current pace of
discovery and acquisition of new knowledge is slow and is limited by the
present requirement of having to conduct nearly all ocean exploration from
surface ships. Ships support a variety
of advanced technologies for accessing the underwater environment, but
information collection is limited to observations from humans in submersibles
or remote observations from cameras carried by robots tethered to the
ship. An increased focus on ocean
technologies would complement ship-based explorations by advancing the
development and use of new underwater exploration assets and sensors,
especially including autonomous underwater vehicles and remote sensing. Autonomous robots with their expanded sensing
capabilities could significantly increase the pace of exploration, discovery,
and generation of new knowledge. Such
technological advancements would benefit the entire marine science community by
developing improved systems for oceanographic research, communication,
navigation, and data collection.
The OE and NURP programs currently collaborate in a number
of areas including expedition planning and execution, and data management. The full details of the merger are currently
under discussion and will depend upon several factors including input from the
regional undersea research centers and the extramural community, and program
funding levels.
Support of the U.S. Ocean Action Plan
NOAA is lead or co-lead for roughly half of the assigned
items from the President’s U.S. Ocean
Action Plan, and has made significant strides on several actions. The
Office of Ocean Exploration and NURP provide unique capabilities to gather,
synthesize, and apply information collected during expeditions of discovery to
directly address many of the challenges described in the U.S. Commission on
Ocean Policy report and the President's Ocean
Action Plan. The Office of Ocean
Exploration and NURP are supporting several of NOAA’s Ocean Action Plan actions through activities including: conversion
of the ship Okeanos Explorer for
dedicated ocean exploration, providing
advanced undersea technologies to support and integrate with the U.S. Integrated
Ocean Observing System (IOOS), participating in the Joint Subcommittee on
Ocean Science and Technology development
of an Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy, participating
in Integrated Coastal and Ocean Mapping activities, and conducting and
participating in a range of educational activities. In addition, NURP and OE support exploration
and research projects which further conservation of deep corals, including deep
corals within the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. An OE-sponsored expedition recently
discovered extensive deep-water corals in the Olympic Coast National Marine
Sanctuary. In direct response to the Ocean Action Plan recommendation to
"Research, Survey, and Protect Deep-Sea Coral Communities," the Office
of Ocean Exploration supported four expeditions with international partners in
FY 2005 and is conducting additional activities in FY 2006 and FY 2007.
NOAA’s Views on H.R. 3835
NOAA supports the intent of H.R. 3835 to establish a
coordinated national ocean exploration program by building on the current
capability within NOAA. This legislation
would elevate the importance of science-based ocean exploration, and undersea
technology development as a vital national activity and strengthen federal
efforts to pursue and support it. H.R.
3835 recognizes the critical components of NOAA’s current ocean exploration
activities, including the development of new undersea technologies, outreach,
and education. As part of its
responsibilities NOAA supports the authorization of interdisciplinary
exploration to expand our knowledge of the ocean’s living and nonliving
resources.
H.R. 3835 advances undersea technology development and
furthers support for undersea research and exploration by mandating that the
program “make available the infrastructure and expertise to service the
undersea science needs of the academic community.” The legislation supports two of the most
successful and unique aspects of NURP: (1) harnessing the nation’s extramural,
academic expertise to provide solutions to NOAA’s undersea challenges, and (2)
conducting an open, competitive process for allocation of resources. It also supports the important program areas
of undersea science-based education and outreach programs to enrich ocean
science education and public awareness, and the discovery, study, and
development of natural products from ocean and aquatic systems. The bill also
provides a sufficient framework and guidance for ensuring that data generated
by the programs will be made available to a broad spectrum of users, in essence
supporting the approach that has already been developed within NOAA.
We do recommend that the following changes to the bill be
considered. While NOAA agrees with the
goal of Section 104, to promote coordination, such a statutory requirement is
unnecessary and would duplicate existing efforts. NOAA currently coordinates with other federal
agencies on ocean exploration activities and plans for the future. In addition, the coordination among federal
agencies mentioned in the bill will increase under the auspices of the new
National Science and Technology Council’s Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science
and Technology. The functions of the
Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology include identifying national
ocean science and technology priorities and facilitating the coordination of
interdisciplinary ocean research, ocean technology, and infrastructure
development.
Section 107 authorizes appropriations to carry out the
National Ocean Exploration Program described above in increasing amounts from
$30,500,000 in fiscal year 2006 to $71,917,000 in fiscal year 2015, including
$33,550,000 for fiscal year 2007. The
Administration requests that the authorization levels in the bill be consistent
with the President's FY 2007 Budget Request, which provides $15,128,000 for the
Ocean Exploration Program.
In light of the NURP restructuring effort, the language of
H.R. 3835 remains pertinent with few changes.
The purpose of NURP remains consistent with Title II of the Act, to
“increase scientific knowledge essential for the informed management, use and
preservation of oceanic, coastal and large lake resources through undersea
research, exploration, education and technology development.” However, NOAA requests that particular named
equipment not be enacted into law so that the program can best maintain the
flexibility required to meet rapidly changing technological developments and
needs.
Section 207 authorizes appropriations to carry out the
Undersea Research Program described above in increasing amounts from
$12,500,000 in fiscal year 2006 to $29,474,000 in fiscal year 2015, including
$13,750,000 in fiscal year 2007. The
Administration requests that the authorization levels in the bill be consistent
with the President's FY 2007 Budget Request, which provides $9,152,000 for NURP
in FY 2007. In addition, the bill
includes authorization language and authorization for appropriations for the
National Technology Institute. The
Administration requests this language be removed to remain consistent with the
President's Budget, which does not provide funding for the National Technology
Institute.
NOAA also notes that in Section 207, all funding is directed
to regional centers leaving no funding for administration of the program. Program administration should be provided,
with a cap of 10 percent of appropriated amounts. NOAA supports an undersea research program
that is national in scope. The
Administration requests in the authorization of funding that no specific
percentage of funding be authorized to either the West Coast or East Coast Regional Centers. This change would allow NOAA the flexibility
to address research and technology needs from a national perspective covering
our interests in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Great
Lakes.
Conclusion
NOAA supports elevating the importance of ocean exploration
based on sound scientific research as a vital national activity and endorses
the strengthening of federal efforts to pursue and support it. H.R. 3835 recognizes the critical components
of NOAA’s current ocean exploration activities, including the development of
new undersea technologies, and outreach and education programs. We are encouraged that the House of
Representatives is considering this legislation to promote the importance of
ocean exploration, and maintain and strengthen our ability to generate new
ocean knowledge. The U.S.’s strength and leadership in
the oceans depends on our nation’s ability to generate and harness the latest
in scientific and technological developments and to apply these developments to
real world applications such as the management of our coastal and marine
resources. A national ocean exploration
and undersea technology development program is vital to sustaining the
scientific advancement and innovation needed to maintain our nation’s
competitive edge in ocean science and technology, as well as to continue to
meet the new emerging needs of NOAA's mission.