Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

Management Oommittee did slightly reduce Ota funds ni inform* to science
ard far fiscal year 1986 approximately 10% are allocated to policyrelated
imristigations.
Given the clarity of the Congressional instruction ard the inmodiacy
with which NBP results oust be applied, we looked far the farces that
took the NBP inthe Science First direction, Consents by contractors
far fiscal year 1985 ard byNBP staff inpublic meetings ard in
interviews make clear that professional incentives are a major factor.
He were told ofthe linjorLanua ofpublishability ard of peer recognition
and that both were more likely to follow from the discovery of new
krtowlcdge than from the shaping of existing information into a farm
needed far management use.
Another, more interesting factor which favors the Science First track is
the self-perception of the oontractors ard of their conception ofthe
appropriate use of their work, one contractor whose work was the
updating of a hlnlorjlcal model of the Bay held cut little hope that it
would ever serve as a predictive modal, because it was not yet able even
to describe the current state of the Bay. The most Interesting use of
the model, the researcher thought, was to uncover basic misurdrjrstarding
of ecological connections. In the discussion of first year results,
other contractors ware reluctant to speculate about possible use of
their results for management purposes. Host oontractors did not even
attend a round-table discussion intended to share results and toexplore
applications. The Chair of the scientific ard Technical Committee, in
addressing oontractors, focussed squarely on this issue: "You will be
asked blunt questions which are not exactly what we ti research; ifwe
can semehew link cur research to these blunt questions, we will be
successful."
It appears that the HBP Management Omnittee is beginning to move more
toward the "maximizing" approach as it nears the »