Bush calls for additional $143 million for ocean research

The Bush administration announced Friday that its fiscal 2008 budget would include $143 million in new funding requests for oceans projects and also proposed a plan identifying ocean research priorities for the next 10 years.

"President Bush has a bold vision to clean up our oceans and coastlines," said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. "With these additional resources and the new Ocean Research Priorities Plan, [the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration] will be able to expand its research and implement plans to better protect our oceans, fish and ecosystems."

The new commitment of funds comes just days after a State of the Union speech in which Bush promised a balanced budget within five years and invited Congress to join him in an effort to "restrain the spending appetite of the federal government."

Under the proposal, $80 million would be devoted to advancing ocean science and research. The budget would authorize $40 million in funding for NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey to establish near-term priorities.

Another $40 million would be in the budget "for NOAA to develop an operational ocean monitoring network, for technology and other infrastructure to support ocean science, for International Polar Year activities, and for research on protected species and commercial fisheries," according to a White House document describing the initiatives.

A total of $38 million will go to protecting and restoring coastal and marine areas, including $30 million for the federal government to work with states and localities on protecting coastal and marine habitat and $8 million to support the management of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.

The final $25 million of the $143 million in new spending would be devoted to steps to decrease overfishing and ensure the sustainable use of ocean resources. Included in this funding is $20 million to implement the reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation Act.

The new research plan identifies four areas of research that should be pursued over the next four years: analyzing ways to provide better forecasts of the responses of coastal ecosystems to natural and human events such as hurricanes and pollution; providing better understanding of marine ecosystems to improve their management; developing tools to collect scientific information on marine ecosystems; and enhancing the ability to study and predict changes in ocean circulation in the Atlantic, "a key driver of climate variability and change," the White House document states.