THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For
Immediate Release |
June
12, 2000 |
June 12, 2000
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
SUBJECT: A New Era of Ocean Exploration
Two years ago, the Vice President and I joined you, other members of
my Cabinet, and hundreds of others from across the country at the National
Ocean Conference in Monterey. This historic gathering drew together
for the first time representatives from government, industry, and the
scientific and conservation communities to begin charting a common oceans
agenda for the 21st century.
At the Conference, I directed my Cabinet to report back
with recommendations for a coordinated, disciplined, long-term Federal
ocean policy. In its report to me last year, Turning to the Sea: America's
Ocean Future, the Cabinet outlined an ambitious and detailed strategy
to ensure the protection and sustainable use of our ocean resources.
I am proud of the actions my Administration is taking to begin implementing
this strategy, including the Executive Order I issued last month to
strengthen our national network of marine protected areas.
One of the Cabinet's key recommendations was that
the Federal Government establish a national strategy to expand exploration
of the oceans. Although we have learned more about our oceans in the
past 25 years than during any other period in history, over 95 percent
of the underwater world is still unknown and unseen. What remains to
be explored may hold clues to the origins of life on Earth, cures for
human diseases, answers to how to achieve sustainable use of our oceans,
links to our maritime history, and information to protect the endangered
species of the sea.
Today, I am announcing steps to immediately enhance our
ocean exploration efforts and to develop the long-term exploration strategy
recommended by you and the rest of the Cabinet. Together, these actions
represent the start of a new era of ocean exploration.
First, I am announcing the launch of three new expeditions
off the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. As you know, these expeditions,
led by the Department of Commerce in collaboration with private partners,
will allow the first detailed exploration of the Hudson River Canyon
off New York, the Middle Grounds and Big Bend areas off central Florida,
and the Davidson Seamount off central California. Researchers will employ
the latest
submersible technologies and will share their discoveries with schoolchildren
and the public via the Internet and satellite communications.
Second, to ensure that these new expeditions are only
the start of a new era of ocean exploration, I am directing you to convene
a panel of leading ocean explorers, educators, and scientists and to
report back to me within 120 days with recommendations for a national
oceans exploration strategy. In implementing this directive, you shall
consult with the National Science Foundation, the National Atmospheric
and Space Administration, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental
Protection Agency, and other agencies, as appropriate. The strategy
should consider the full array of benefits that our oceans provide,
and should support our efforts to conserve and ensure the sustainable
use of valuable ocean resources. Specifically, the strategy should:
1. Define objectives and priorities to guide ocean exploration,
including the identification of key sites of scientific, historic, and
cultural importance;
2. Recommend ways of creating new partnerships to draw
on the tools and talents of educational, research, private-sector, and
government organizations, including opportunities for Federal agencies
to provide in-kind support for private ocean exploration initiatives;
3. Examine the potential for new technologies -- including
manned and unmanned vehicles and undersea platforms -- to observe and
explore the oceans from surface to seafloor and recommend ways to explore
the oceans remotely using new observatories and sensors and other innovative
uses of technology; and
4. Recommend mechanisms to ensure that information about
newly explored areas warranting additional protection is referred to
the newly established Marine Protected Area Center, and that newly discovered
organisms or other resources with medicinal or commercial potential
are identified for possible research and development.
In the early years of the 19th century, President Thomas
Jefferson commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis to explore the American
West. What followed was the most important exploration in this country's
history. As America prepares to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, we have an opportunity to set our sights
on a much broader horizon. The time has come to take exploration farther
west, and east, and south, to our submerged continents. In so doing,
we can challenge and rekindle American's spirit of exploration,
open up a whole new underwater world of possibilities, and help preserve
our extraordinary marine heritage for future generations.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON