Marine Technical Assistance to Developing Countries The U.S. Role MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE U.S. ROLE Marine Technical Assistance Group Ocean Policy Committee Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources National Research Council National Academy Press Washington, D.C. 1982 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the .ouncils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authcors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of'Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicne. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1944 and 1970, respectively, under !.he charter cf the National Academy ,f Scicnces. Available from Ocean Policy Committee National Academy of Sciences 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418 Printed in the United States of America OCEAN POLICY COMMITTEE PAUL M. FYE, woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Chairman RITA R. COLWELL, University of Maryland JOHN P. CRAVEN, University of Hawaii JAMES A. CRUTCHFIELD, JR., University of Washington ROBERT L. FRIEDHEIM, University of Southern California JOHN G. GISSBERG, Anchorage, Alaska EDWARD D. GOLDBERG, Scripps Institution of Oceanography G. ROSS HEATH, Oregon State University JUDITH KILDOW, Massachusetts Institute of Technology JOHN A. KNAUSS, University of Rhode Island JOHN LISTON, University of Washington CHARLES MAECHLING, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace JOHN J. MAGNUSON, University of Wisconsin, Madison ROGER REVELLE, University of California, San Diego DAVID A. ROSS, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution MARY HOPE KATSOUROS, National Research Council, Executive Secretary MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GROUP *JOHN LISTON, University of Washington, Chairman *BERNHARD J. ABRAHAMSSON, University of Denver JOHN P. CRAVEN, University of Hawaii VIC KLEMAS, University of Delaware *RICHARD E. MEUNIER, Denver, Colorado ROGER REVELLE, University of California, San Diego DAVID A. ROSS, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution HARRIS B. STEWART, JR., Old Dominion University *CHRISTOPHER K. VANDERPOOL, Michigan State University *FRANCIS WILLIAMS, University of Miami *Menber of Marine Technical Assistance Group Evaluation Team John V. Byrne, Oregon State University, was a member of the Ocean Policy Committee and the Marine Technical Assistance Group from 1979 until February 1981. iii COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND RESOURCES HERBERT FRIEDMAN, National Research Council, Cochairman ROBERT M. WHITE, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Cochairman STANLEY I. AUERBACH, Oak Ridge National Laboratory ELKAN R. BLOUT, Harvard Medical School WILLTAM BROWDER, Princeton University BERNARD F. BURKE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology HERMAN CHERNOFF, Massachusetts Institute of Technology WALTER R. ECKELMANN, Exxon Corporation JOSEPH L. FISHER, Office of the Governoc, Commonwealth of Virginia JAMES C. FLETCHER, University of Pittsburgh WILLIAM A. FOWLER, California Institute of Technology GERHART FRIEDLANDER, Brookhaven National Laboratory EDWARD A. FRIEMAN, Science Applications, Inc. EDWARD D. GOLDBERG, Scripps Institution of Oceanography KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF, Stanford University CHARLES J. MANKIN, Oklahoma Geological Survey WALTER H. MUNK, University of California, San Diego NORTON NELSON, New York University Medical Center DANIEL A. OKUN, University of North Carolina GEORGE E. PAKE, Xerox Research Center DAVID PIMENTEL, Cornell University CHARLES K. REED, National Research Council HATTEN S. YODER, JR., Carnegie Institution of Washington RAPHAEL G. KASPER, Executive Director iv CONTENTS PREFACE vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 1 RATIONALE FOR MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION 10 2 U.S. MARINE ASSISTANCE IN RELATION TO FOREIGN ASSISTANCE POLICY 22 3 U.S. GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS FOR MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COOPERATION AND 29 4 U.S. PRIVATE SECTOR PROGRAMS FOR MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION 41 5 INTERNATIONAL ORGA14IZATONS AND PROGRAMS FOR MARINE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION 50 6 TRENDS IN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION 66 7 U.S. ROLE IN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE 74 La.g. .. •al PREFACI The role of the United States in providing marine scientific and technical assistance to developing countries has been of continuing concern to the Ocean Policy Committee. In 1974 the committee convened a conference to consider issues and problems of U.S. involvement in marine technical assistance and to bring to the attention of the U.S. marine science community the importance of such assistance in view of the changing political climate affecting the world oceans. 1 The meeting of an Ocean Policy Committee working group in Miami a year later brought together scientists and technologists from the Caribbean region to consider the needs of developing countries for marine technical assistance and to discuss their views of the adequacy of 2 current U.S. assistance efforts. The workshop also considered the implications of developing countries' changing perceptions of their control over ocean resources. In 1976 the committee's technical assistance working group was reconstituted as the Marine Technical Assistance Group (MTAG). The group was concerned with the changing needs for U.S. marine technical assistance and cooperation in fisheries and oceanography in light of the international negotiations at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Discussions with " presentatives of federal agencies involved in marine a-s~sance led to a request in Nov!mbe: 1978 from David H. Wallace, th,h. Policy Advisor for International Marine Affairs, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for a study that lists past and present U.S. programs of marine technical assistance and cooperation in fisheries and oceanography; iU.S. Marine Scientific Research Assistance to Foreign States: Proceedings of a Conference. Ocean Policy Committee, Ocean Affairs Board; National Research Council (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, second 2 edition, 1975). Exploratory Workshop in Marine Technical Assistance in the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean Region: A Staff Report. Ocean Policy Committee, CommissiL.i on International Relations; National Research Council (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1977). vii evaluates the future environment for marine technical cooperation; and makes recommendations for future direction in U.S. technical cooperation p:ograms. The study began in 1979 with funds from the Agency for International Development, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of State; later the Department of the Navy supported a part of the study. MTAG members were selected with a view to achieving a balance of expertise in marine science and technology and other fields. The members represent broad experience in technical assistance and cooperative research with developing countries and in dealing with the related economic, social, and political issues. In approaching its task, the Marine Technical Assistance Group drew upon reports of past study groups that have examined aspects of U.S. marine assistance to developing countries. These include the 1969 report, Our Nation and the Sea: A Plan for National Action, by the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering and Resources, chaired by Julius Stratton; the report of the Marine Science Workshop held in Bologna, Italy, by the Johns Hopkins University in 1973; Fisheries and Aquaculture Collaborative Research in the Developing Countries: A Priority Planning Approach, a 1978 report to the Agency for International Development and the Board on International Food and Agricultural Development; and U.S. Science and Technology for Development: A Contribution to the 1979 U.S. Conference, prepared for the Department of State by the National Research Council. The present report derives from deliberation and study by the Marine Technical Assistance Group over a two-year period. There have been disctssions with representatives from the federal agencies involved in marine assistance, and some have provided a great deal of information on their activities. We have also exchanged information and ideas with scientists from developing countries, U.S. scientists, and representatives of U.N. agencies,