ABSTRACT
Rapid advances in ocean technology and an accelerating recognition that ocean issues are, in fact, a tangle of broad policy issues such as energy, pollution, and renewable resources have sparked a growing appreciation for the complexity of marine affairs. The segmented character of the ocean community is mirrored in the federal organization for marine affairs. The influence of a scientific agency’s culture was seen in efforts to set up a marine science affairs program in the National Science Foundation’s Office for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE). The organization’s bias toward natural and physical science was also evident in the expression by oceanographers of their concern about the prospect of diverting IDOE funds from basic scientific research projects to marine science affairs. Despite the dismal prospects for any significant increase in funding for marine policy research, changes in the marine area continue which bode well for a modest level of support during the 1980s.
