A Review of the Draft Ocean Research Priorities Plan Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Summary
Pages 4-12
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From page 4... ...
The purpose of the draft plan is to: "...develop and present ocean research priorities that address key interactions between society and the ocean." The draft plan identifies six themes that represent key areas of human interaction with the ocean: · Stewardship of Our Natural and Cultural Ocean Resources · Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards · Enabling Marine Operations · The Ocean's Role in Climate · Improving Ecosystem Health · Enhancing Human Health 21 longer-term (~10 years) and four near-term (2-5 years)
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From page 5... ...
The six broad themes succeed in capturing the main ocean-related issues facing society in a comprehensive and coherent way, and the draft plan acknowledges the role of fundamental curiositydriven research in meeting the nation's needs for ocean research and development. The plan includes research priorities in the social sciences, a necessary component for improving ocean stewardship.
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From page 6... ...
Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) , the Pew Oceans Commission, and the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, would underscore the coherent evolution of thinking about the critical role that ocean research plays in addressing the pressing problems and opportunities facing society, and put the draft plan into a larger context.
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From page 7... ...
To provide a clearer connection between the scientific priorities and the underlying societal needs, it would be useful if the plan articulated a series of "challenges for science and society." These challenges would facilitate the identification of more tightly formulated research priorities under each theme and, importantly, would galvanize the ocean research and policy communities around the plan. The draft plan identifies specific criteria by which research priorities were selected.
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From page 8... ...
RECOMMENDATION: The discussion of each of these priorities should be modestly expanded to provide greater specificity in the description of proposed research and to include research on coastal erosion and sediment transport. Enabling Marine Operations The draft plan defines marine operations to encompass commercial, recreational, and defense and security matters.
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From page 9... ...
Productivity appears to be presented as the sole indicator of ecosystem health. However, by itself, productivity is a poor metric because marine systems can maintain stable levels of secondary production, set by nutrient loadings and physical conditions, even when severely perturbed by human activities.
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From page 10... ...
The importance of both process studies and quantification of risk should be clearly emphasized. INTERDISCIPLINARY AND MULTI-MISSION OCEAN RESEARCH Major ocean research and management challenges facing our nation require interdisciplinary approaches and cut across the defined missions of individual government agencies.
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From page 11... ...
Information Infrastructure This discussion essentially parallels the discussion of physical infrastructure. Plans exist that address needed information infrastructure for ocean sciences, but these plans were not written within the context of the ocean research priorities.
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From page 12... ...
Intellectual Capital The draft plan contains mention, but scant quantitative assessment, of the need for intellectual capital or the future workforce required to carry out the research and related work envisioned in the plan. Short shrift also is given to the social science workforce needs that are integral to the plan.
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