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

of a network among these and other organizationswho are concerned with the coasts and oceans. Thatnetwork must be built around the following functions:• Data Collection. Standard measures of employment,income, and output for the ocean andcoastal economy need to be developed and maintained.The work by the National OceanEconomics Project provides the foundation forthis work. In addition, special measures must bedeveloped for the unique aspects of the coastaland ocean economy. In particular, the influence ofthe coasts and ocean on land values needs to beunderstood throughout the range of differentcoast types. The vital role of the oceans in tourismand recreation needs to be better understood interms of both market and nonmarket values, andthe economic values of the ecosystem service rolesof the coasts and oceans better measured.• Data Distribution. Data must be collected, butthey must also be widely distributed both to beavailable to policy makers to factor into decisionsand to spur further research. The availabilityof contemporary database and Internet deliverysystems makes this function easier andcheaper than ever.• Data Analysis. Data are only useful when theyare transformed into information through analysis.Data analysis should be driven in large partby the needs to support decision making at thefederal, state, and local levels about the managementof ocean and coastal resources. This willmean both analysis of socio-economic trends ontheir own, and, increasingly, the ability to analyticallylink changes in the socio-economic sphereto changes in the environment, and vice versa.• Education and Research. Outside of the fields offisheries and mineral economics, the field ofocean and coastal socio-economic studies is stillrelatively new and confined to a fairly smallgroup of specialists. There must be an expansionof the field through training of both researchersand policy specialists to generate and use thisinformation. Research must also continue toimprove our measurement of non-market values,to develop measures of the use of coastal andocean resources such as beaches, and to improvethe data systems for standard measures such asemployment and output. Current work in theseareas represents a beginning, not an end to theseendeavors. The advent of geographic informationsystems also substantially eases the integration ofsocio-economic with natural resource data, andthis integration needs to be another focus ofresearch so that the interactions between thehuman and natural environments in the coastalareas can be better understood.Given these resources and needs, the federal governmentshould commit to an ongoing program ofsocio economic research of trends and values of thenation’s coasts and oceans. That program shouldinclude the following elements:• Designation of a specific socioeconomic researchand data collection function within NOAA.• An interagency group, chaired by NOAA, ofresearchers and data providers in the federal agenciesconcerned with data for the coasts and oceans.• An Advisory Board, reporting to NOAA and theinteragency group, of outside researchers withappropriate expertise, to help set agendas, designprograms, and evaluate progress.• A statutory requirement that the Bureau ofLabor Statistics and Bureau of EconomicAnalysis prepare an annual report on theemployment, wages, and output associated withthe coasts and oceans of the United States.• A special effort to make available key data thatare missing from the current suite of economicstatistics, particularly employment and incomesin the fisheries harvesting sector.• Regular funding for research into improvedmeasures of both the market and non-marketeconomic values of the coasts and oceans. Anarea of particular importance is establishing theeconomic value of the nation’s ocean and coastalresources as assets in which we invest.• An Internet based data archive and distributionsystem that links key sources of coastal andocean socioeconomic data and research.Funding for these efforts should be in the $8–10million range annually, with funds provided to bothdata using and data providing agency for sufficientstaff and other costs. This is particularly the case forthe data providing agencies such as the Bureau ofLabor Statistics, Bureau of the Census and Bureau ofEconomic Analysis who cannot play their roles withoutadditional resources. Partnership arrangementswith nonfederal organizations like the National OceanEconomics Project should be maintained and expanded.It should be noted that at a time of scarce budgetaryresources, this amount may seem like a substantialsum. But it is less and than 1/10th of what thefederal government currently spends on economicresearch in the agriculture sector, which is actuallysmaller than the ocean sector in the overall economy.C 20A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY