    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 12, 2000]
    [Pages 1132-1133]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on a New Era of Ocean Exploration
    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:

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            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