An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century - California Ocean ...

Coastal communitiesdepend on healthyecosystems andeconomies for theirsurvival. Research tobetter understand theinter-connectivitybetween the economyand the environment… needs to begreatly expanded.—Richard DeVoe,Executive Director,South Carolina SeaGrant, testimony tothe Commission,January 2002and recreation industries in terms of both market and non-market values; and theeconomic value of ecosystem services provided by the oceans and coasts.• Data Distribution—The data that would be generated by this program are urgentlyneeded by local and state managers, researchers, and stakeholders, and must be easilyaccessible. The availability of modern database and Internet delivery systems hasmade this function much easier and cheaper than in the past.• Data Analysis—Data only become useful outside the academic realm when they areanalyzed and transformed into information products. Data analyses should be tailoredto federal, regional, state, and local needs. Socioeconomic trends should be analyzedand linked to environmental trends. Geographic Information Systems will facilitatethe integration of socioeconomic and natural resource data.• Education and Research—Additional research should focus on improving measurementsof nonmarket values, developing ways to quantify the use of ocean and coastalresources, and standardizing measures such as employment and output. The field ofocean and coastal economics is relatively new and primarily confined to a small groupof specialists. To accommodate the growing demand for expertise in this field,expanded training of scientists and policy specialists will be required.Recommendation 25–3The National Ocean Council (NOC) research strategy should include a national program forsocial science and economic research to examine the human dimensions and economic valueof the nation’s oceans and coasts. The NOC should direct relevant agencies to include socioeconomicresearch as an integral part of their efforts.The national program should include:• an operational socioeconomic research and assessment function within the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).• an interagency steering group, chaired by NOAA and including the Bureau of LaborStatistics (BLS), Bureau of the Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S.Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and National ScienceFoundation to coordinate ocean-related socioeconomic research.• biennial reports by BLS and BEA on the employment, wages, and output associated withU.S. coasts and oceans.• biennial reports by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on intermodal access to U.S.ports and maritime facilities and assessments of relevant maritime system performanceand economic data.• periodic reports on such topics as coastal demographics, geographic patterns and trendsof ocean and coastal use, economic contributions, attitudes and perceptions, functioningof governance arrangements, and public-private partnerships.• establishment of partnerships to take maximum advantage of the expertise residentwithin government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector.• increased interactions with regional, state, and local stakeholders through regionalocean councils and regional ocean information programs so their information needs canbe met and socioeconomic changes at these levels can be documented and analyzed.These efforts deserve, and will require, significant new funding, as discussed inChapter 30. While this may prove challenging in a time of scarce budgetary resources,major federal funding is already devoted to economic research in the agricultural sector,although the ocean economy is two and a half times larger than agriculture in terms oftotal production of goods and services (Appendix C).384 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY