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

7. THE FUTURE OF UNDERSTANDINGTHE COASTAL AND OCEAN ECONOMYDespite the size and importance of the ocean andcoastal economy, the Federal government investsvery little in trying to monitor and understand it.While the National Marine Fisheries Service and theSpecial Projects Office have ongoing economic researchprograms, they are limited to generating informationdirectly related to NOAA programs. There is no organizationwith a general purpose economic research programor funding within NOAA comparable to theEconomic Research Service in the Department ofAgriculture, which has an annual budget of over $100million. None of the major economic statistics agenciesof the Federal government, including the Departmentof Commerce’s Bureau of the Census and Bureau ofEconomic Analysis or the Department of Labor’sBureau of Labor Statistics, have either mandate ormoney to study the ocean and coastal economy.The economic statistics cited in this report arethe result of a NOAA and EPA-sponsored NationalOcean Economics Project, a multi-year researchstudy being conducted at several universities. Thisresearch program is providing critical information,but research is not a substitute for the kind of ongoingcommitment to generating data that can be usedto monitor and study the coastal and ocean economy.As part of its recommitment to ocean policy, theFederal government needs to establish an ongoingprogram of using its existing statistical resources tocontinue the measurement of the coastal and oceaneconomy and to generating additional data resourcesand analysis in this field.A sustained effort to monitor and improveunderstanding of the coastal and ocean economyrequires a cooperative approach among a number ofdifferent federal and nonfederal organizations. Sevenorganizations will play key roles.1 NOAA. As the principal federal agency withresponsibility for the oceans, NOAA must play thelead role, working with other agencies to set agendasfor research and publication of data, as well asenhancing the use of economic data to assist decisionmaking at the federal, state, and local levels.2. The Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS, in cooperationwith the states, collects the most basicemployment and wage data on the economy.The economic data presented here is based onthe Longitudinal Data Base maintained by theBureau. This data will continue to be the fundamentalelement of monitoring the coastal andocean economy from national to local levels.3. The Bureau of the Census is the other major collectorof primary data on the economy, includingthe censuses of population and housing and of themajor sectors of the economy. The Department ofAgriculture has responsibility for the Census ofAgriculture, which includes data on aquaculture.4. The Bureau of Economic Analysis. BEA uses datainputs from the data collecting agencies to maintainthe most important measure of annual economicactivity, the national income and productaccounts, the best-known element of which isthe gross domestic product. Related measuressuch as the gross state product are key to understandingregional economies, as is the measurementof self employment.5. EPA. The Environmental Protection Agencyundertakes substantial economic research in thefields of land, water, and air pollution that affectocean and coastal resources at many points. EPA’seconomic research focuses particular attentionon nonmarket values, and provides an importantsupplement to NOAA’s work in this area.6. The National Science Foundation is the provider ofsupport for much of the basic research in the sciences,including the social sciences. It has recentlyundertaken new initiatives to better link the naturaland social sciences in the aid of improved managementof the environment and natural resources,which fits well within the framework of socioeconomicresearch on the coasts and oceans.7. Universities and Other Researchers. As withmarine science in general, the key research inmeasuring the coastal and ocean economy is acooperative arrangement between the federalgovernment and researchers in the nation’s universitiesand in private research organizations.The interaction among federal, academic, andprivate researchers, with the federal governmentproviding a key catalytic role with funding, takesadvantage of the strengths of multiple perspectivesand organizational missions.The future of socio-economic information for thecoasts and oceans will require the successful creationA PPENDIX C: LIVING N EAR… AND M AKING A L IVING F ROM…THE N ATION’ S C OASTS AND O CEANS C 19