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ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
Questions submitted by the Honorable Robert Underwood, Committee on Resources
Responses by Dr. Alexander Malahoff, Director, Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, University of Hawaii
1. What is the University of Hawaii NURP Project doing in the Western Pacific at the moment? What has it done in the past and plan to do in the future?
Currently, NURP/NURC–H&P) is working on projects dealing with fisheries, corals and other living organisms at depths below 300 feet on the Hawaiian Island chain from Midway to the Big Island of Hawaii. Future work is also planned for Guam, the Northern Marianas and Samoa.
2. How do you anticipate NOAA's National Undersea Research Program cooperating with the National Ocean Exploration Initiative?
NURP has the expertise and facilities for deep submergence, such as the Pisces IV and Pisces V submersibles and mothership, based in Hawaii. It is this expertise and the vehicles that will be made available to the National Ocean Exploration Initiative.
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3. Should there be a specific capitalized program to develop new technologies for ocean exploration and observation, providing incentives and seed money to encourage the public and private sector to get involved in development?
Such a program would be similar to the Hybrid Automobile Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program at the Department of Commerce. A new generation of deep diving submersibles has to be built in order to allow the full exploration of the ocean floor. None have been built during the past 25 years. Specialized remotely-operated vehicles, specifically designed for deep ocean exploration need to be designed and built. New sensors and remote observatories would fill in the gaps between submersible and ROV traverses. This is an excellent technology field for partnerships between universities, government and the public ocean engineering and technology sectors.
4. The observation system you all talk about is primarily for the physical environment. What are the practical applications of applying this new stream of data to the management of biological species? How would this information ultimately support the management of resources through an understanding of such things as primary productivity, fish stocks and marine pollution?
A prime objective in ocean exploration is to study the animals, especially fishes in their natural environment. The many stages in the lives of these animals occupy different niches. The systems, such as submersible, ROVs, observatories and bottom stations utilizing exotic technology in order to work at the great ocean depths are the prime vehicles for observing the behavior of fish species. The thorough understanding of the complete life cycles of fish and other animals will enable us to conserve, restock and culture valuable species. The special sensors on deep submergence vehicles are designed to monitor the chemistry of the water and any human-derived pollutions.
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Alexander Malahoff, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Oceanography
Director, Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
(HURL/NURC–H&WP)
NOAA's National Undersea Research Center for Hawaii & the Pacific
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/
University of Hawaii at Manoa
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
(SOEST)
1000 Pope Road, MSB 319
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 (USA)
Tel: (808) 956–6802
Fax: (808) 956–2136
E-mail: malahoff@soest.hawaii.edu
Appendix 4:
Additional Material for the Record
SUBMITTED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. MERRELL
Good afternoon, Chairman Gilchrest, Chairman Ehlers, Chairman Smith and members of the subcommittees. I am William Merrell, President of The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. While serving as president of The Heinz Center, I am on leave of absence from the Texas A&M University, where I serve as Professor of Oceanography and Marine Sciences. I understand that the members of the subcommittees are interested in the recommendations of the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration, and what actions should be taken to implement those recommendations. My testimony will include brief comments on the work of the Panel on Ocean Exploration, of which I was a member. I will then focus specifically on a Heinz Center effort to involve the four sectors, i.e., government at all levels, academia, industry, and environmental organizations, in the creation of an Ocean Exploration Forum, one of the recommendations in the Panel's report.
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The United States needs to support an Ocean Exploration Program to expand our present body of knowledge of the oceans, upon which we currently base our governance, management, commercial, and scientific decisions. Tremendous gains have been made in other sciences and outstanding technological advances have occurred over the last 50 years, yet our knowledge about the oceans has not kept abreast of our capabilities or our needs. As the Panel's report notes, the oceanographic research of the past was conducted as exploratory missions with interdisciplinary teams. Today, oceanographic research is more narrowly focused and hypothesis driven. In these times of increasing competitive uses and increasing pressures on our resources, a return to exploration to complement the ongoing hypothesis based research is necessary if we are to ensure a sustainable future. Through a program of ocean exploration, we will better understand the evolution of the earth, the distribution of living and nonliving resources and the magnitude of new and exotic life forms. We can use that improved knowledge to effectively manage, develop and conserve our oceans.
The President's panel, composed of leading experts in ocean science, policy, commerce and education, produced a report, entitled Discovering Earth's Final Frontier: A U.S. Strategy for Ocean Exploration, which outlines an Ocean Exploration Program. The panel's recommendations, key objectives, and priorities identified to guide such a program are:
1. Mapping the physical, geological, biological, chemical, and archaeological aspects of the ocean, such that the U.S. knowledge base is capable of supporting the large demand for this information from policy makers, regulators, commercial ventures, researchers and educators;
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2. Exploring ocean dynamics and interactions at new scales, such that our understanding of the complex interactions in the living ocean supports our need for stewardship of this vital component of the planet's life support system;
3. Developing new sensors and systems for ocean exploration, so as to regain U.S. leadership in marine technology; and
4. Reaching out in new ways to stakeholders, to improve the literacy of learners of all ages with respect to ocean issues.
To meet objective four, the panel proposed the establishment of ''an Ocean Exploration Forum to encourage partnerships and promote communication among commercial, academic, private, nongovernmental organizations and government stakeholders'' as one of its recommendations for the management structure. To this end, The Heinz Center will form a small ad hoc Forum advisory group, with selected members of the Ocean Exploration Panel, to convene two regional workshops to consider and receive input on the establishment of such a forum. Leaders from industry, government, academia, and environmental organizations will participate in the workshops. Participants will consider the following issues: how the Forum should be constituted; what issues should be considered; whether the Forum should be established in partnership or as a joint activity with an outside organization or within the government; whether the Forum should provide special briefings on an informal basis or hold a large semiannual meeting; and what mechanisms would help the Forum ''encourage partnerships and promote communication.''
The Heinz Center agreed to undertake such an endeavor, because it meets our mission of fostering collaboration among industry, environmental organizations, academia, and government and the opportunity such a forum could provide to understanding the advances in ocean sciences and in new technologies and observing systems. Moreover, the findings and recommendations of The Heinz Center's projects and programs are widely disseminated to public and private sector decision-makers, the scientific community, and the public, which is in keeping with objective four mentioned above. This expertise in multi-sector collaboration and information dissemination is essential in developing a viable Ocean Exploration Forum.
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By supporting the Ocean Exploration Program we will increase our understanding of ocean processes, an important step in maintaining an ocean science and technology enterprise that can meet the challenges of the coming decades. The interest within your subcommittees in this issue and your deliberations here today reaffirm my belief that we as a nation are prepared to realize the full potential of the oceans and to explore the 95 percent of the oceans still unexplored.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your deliberations on the important issue of ocean exploration and to explain The Heinz Center's efforts to implement one of the Panel's recommendations.
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