Let’s Strengthen the Ties Between Ocean Science and Policy

The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development has begun. In Japan as well, a national committee has been launched as a platform for all interested parties to collaborate in realizing a clean, healthy, productive, predictable, safe, accessible ocean, and most of all, an ocean which brings hope and inspiration into our everyday lives.

Overview of work performed with the survey vessels and the background to their development

My nostalgia flies like a butterfly! The butterfly crosses over woven fences and sees the sea from the street corner in the afternoon... I listen to the sea at the wall... close my book. I lean against the wall. Two o'clock strikes in the next room. "Sea, the far sea! I write on a piece of paper—Sea, Chinese character of you embraces mother. Mother, French word of you embraces the sea.” (Kyoshu (Nostalgia) by Tatsuji Miyoshi)

The scent of the tide, the lapping waves, the setting sun beyond the horizon - when I look at the sea close by, and when I think about it far away, I feel nostalgic for some reason. Perhaps it is because the ocean brings back memories of the rhythms of the natural world that we have experienced since the birth of life on this planet.
Due to its delicately balanced location in the solar system, the Earth has produced a rich and life-giving ecosystem through being a water-covered planet with an optimal temperature and atmospheric pressure. However, civilization has exceeded the limits of our planet, even threatening our coexistence with our irreplaceable Earth and all living things. Our mother ocean also faces many serious problems such as global warming, acidification, pollution, garbage, and noise in the ocean.
This sense of crisis led to the launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, a resolution passed by the United Nations based on a proposal by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESO (IOC-UNESCO). In February, a Japanese national committee was established through the efforts of the Japan Society of Ocean Policy and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Policy Research Institute. The committee is expected to serve as a platform for all stakeholders, including academia, business and industry, government, and citizens' groups, to work together. This action will help us realize a clean, healthy, productive, predictable, safe, accessible ocean, and most of all, an ocean which brings hope and inspiration into our everyday lives.

Advances in Marine Science

Actually, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on the oceans based on a proposal by the IOC as long as half a century ago. The resolution was for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE), which began in 1971. In the 1960s, the rapid development of electronic devices, measuring instruments, remote sensing technology, and computers raised expectations for the future of society. At the same time, marine science was facing a significant turning point due to growing awareness of environmental destruction caused by pollution and other factors. A new possibility was also emerging: the long-term deployment of buoys in coastal areas and the world's deep-seas to acquire regional data chronologically. New technology also made it possible to link basic research to applied research through combining wide-area oceanographic observations, including satellite observations, with numerical simulations to predict changes in the ocean. At that time, Professor Koji Hidaka of the University of Tokyo commented, "Research in the natural sciences cannot be expected to be effective unless basic research and applied research constantly proceed in step with each other. Since applied research is directly relevant to human life, basic research tends to be neglected. However, it is obvious that the development of applied research will not progress without a solid foundation.”¹ What were the goals of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE)? The IDOE was an attempt to understand the nature of fluctuating phenomena in a way that transcended conventional discrete descriptions of phenomena by routine shipboard observations. Around the time I entered graduate school, Professor Kozo Yoshida of the University of Tokyo, who laid the foundation for ocean physics in the postwar era, was working to gain the understanding of the Science Council of Japan and the Ministry of Education (at the time) to participate in this large-scale international project. The professor, who had made world-first discoveries in upwelling theory, had high hopes for the program’s Coastal Upwelling Experiment. Dr. Kwon Higu, an acquaintance of Professor Yoshida, sympathized with his idea and launched the journal Gekkan Kaiyo Kagaku (Marine Sciences Monthly)². New forms of marine science were emerging to help our understanding of the changing and fluctuating oceans.
However, global trends in marine science were not fully understood in Japan. Instead, the emphasis was placed on developing the ocean. This focus may have been natural for Japan, whose heavy industries had developed remarkably, and which was gaining momentum as an industrial nation. There was an incident when Professor Yoshida grew angry because someone mistook the word “exploration” for “exploitation.” I still remember it like it was yesterday. The Science Council of Japan only recommended implementing the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) to the government in 1974, when the international plan was almost halfway finished. In the end, however, this recommendation was not accepted by the government.
Looking back at that time from half a century later, I can see another side to the story. The global movement that led to the UN General Assembly’s resolution was undoubtedly impacting the world of politics and business in Japan. In 1968, the government consulted the Council for Ocean Science and Technology regarding the Development Plan for Science and Technology for Ocean Development. The council’s report in response to the consultation resulted in bringing about a successful outcome, and in May of 1971, the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center Act was promulgated. In October of the same year, the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (now the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) was established with the support of the Japan Business Federation. This year marks the 50th anniversary of this event. Its principles state that emphasis should be placed not only on science and technology for the development of marine resources, but also on science and technology for the prevention of marine pollution, to contribute broadly to improving the welfare of Japan’s citizens³. At that time, courses on marine science at universities were newly established one after another, significantly strengthening the foundations of human resource development. The 1981 issue of the Journal of Oceanography, entitled “Nihon ni okeru kaiyogaku saikin 10-nen no ayumi: Kaiyo butsuri gaku” (Oceanic Study in Japan - Its Progress in the Last Decade: Physical Oceanography), reported a significant increase in the number of doctoral students at the University of Tokyo and at Kyoto University. Professor Nobuo Suginohara of the University of Tokyo summed up the situation by saying, "Even if we had participated in the IDOE in the 1970s, we could not have made any special contributions. The fact that we spent the 1970s steadily carrying out numerical calculations, establishing mooring system technologies, and training researchers may, in fact, work positively for the progress of research in the 1980s and beyond.”⁴ The subsequent development of marine science in Japan shows that human resource development has been critical.

On the Occasion of our 500th Issue

Marine science and technology are particularly interdisciplinary fields. To contribute to people's welfare, comprehensive efforts, including efforts related to policy, are required. This requirement for comprehensive actions means it is vital to have places where ocean stakeholders can express their opinions and share their future visions of the ocean. At the invitation of Hiroshi Terashima, then Executive Director of the Ship and Ocean Foundation, I was involved in editing this Ocean Newsletter for more than 12 years, from 2004, together with Dr. Tomoya Akimichi, Professor Emeritus at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. The Ocean Newsletter, compiled of voices of those who work with the ocean, is virtually an anthology of poetry, like the old Japanese “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves (Manyoshu)”, about the sea. These voices from people who care about the ocean became a great current, and the Basic Act on Ocean Policy was enacted on July 20, 2007, Ocean Day. The enactment was a breakthrough on an international scale. With the publication of our 500th issue, we hope that the Ocean Newsletter will continue to play an increasingly valuable role in helping to realize the UN Decade of Ocean Science's goal of "The Ocean We Want.” (End)

Japan's city lights with atmospheric light on the horizon.
A photo taken from the International Space Station 260 miles above the Philippine Sea. (NASA, February 24, 2021)