Australia is in a unique position to lead the world in ocean research and management, says the nation's top marine scientist on the eve of the international year of the oceans, 1998.

Dr Nan Bray, Chief of the CSIRO Division of Marine Research, says Australia's creative approaches to managing the ocean and its resources extends to investigating the impact of the marine environment on humans, our industry and climate -- and also our impact on the seas themselves.

"But there is still an enormous amount we don't understand about our seas," Dr Bray cautions. "The International Year of the Oceans is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate how the oceans impact on our lives and on the planet and how international cooperation can achieve better results than on land," she says.

"If we can manage the oceans well, it may also give us the confidence that we can manage other momentous global issues," says Dr Bray.

According to Dr Bray Australia is well-positioned to lead the way, with some very creative science and a clear awareness of how important it is to manage the oceans.

"People still tend to think the ocean is important because of its resources such as the fish and minerals. These are important, but where the penny still hasn't dropped is how vital the oceans are to our climate," says Dr Bray.

"The oceans play a pivotal role in the onset and cessation of El Nino. They are also major producers and absorbers of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas."

Dr Bray arrived in Australia in September from the US where she was director of physical oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She says scientists and marine managers come to Australia from round the world to learn from us about issues like fisheries management, climate impact research and sustainable ocean development management.

"For example the Australian system for managing fisheries is being used as a template by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for setting up the fisheries management system for the United States," she says.

One advantage is that Australians have a collective wish to look after their oceans and to find solutions to the pressing problems facing us, says Dr Bray.

"The challenges facing Australia include achieving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, making multiple use of the marine environment work, and protecting biodiversity - nature's treasurehouse of potential pharmaceuticals that will serve society into the future.

"Basically all pharmaceuticals start with some kind of natural product and there are many more natural products in the oceans where life is thought to have originated than on land. Therefore we need to protect this trove for future generations."

Dr Bray says there is also a need to maintain the integrity of the oceans ecosystems, and balance this with Australia's need to create wealth.

"Many creatures in the ocean are important in ecosystems. The problem is we don't yet know which ones are critical for ecosystems to survive.

Earnings from Australia's ocean industries are forecast to grow from $25 billion to $85 billion by 2020, but the great limiting factor is the lack of knowledge of the oceans under our jurisdiction.

The exploration and management of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is in its very early stages, she says. "It can be compared to the situation of terrestrial Australia in the 1850s. So far, only about 5 percent of Australia's 11 million square kilometre EEZ has been mapped.

"As it is more than twice the size of the continent, it is a pretty daunting task to try to understand it all. Especially when you consider that none of it is desert, but rather a collection of productive marine systems."

In recent years, a volcanic province the size of Iceland was discovered off the coast of Western Australia, and a cluster of deep-sea volcanoes, deeper than Mt Kosciusko is high, have been discovered off Tasmania, close to the orange roughy fishing grounds.

While Australia's marine territory is largely unexplored, early indications are that it supports a biodiversity that is high on a global scale, with new species being discovered in the deep seas today faster than the early explorers recorded fishes from our seas two centuries ago.

The few surveys conducted in our upper continental slope (200-400m depth) have already uncovered more than twice the number of species found on similar slopes in the Atlantic after decades of extensive surveys by the United States and Europe.

In the past decade, 800 new species of fish have been identified in Australian waters. Yet at ocean depths below 1500 m - more than 70 percent of the entire Australian ocean jurisdiction - we know almost nothing.

But Dr Bray says, it is not just in science that Australia is taking a leading role, but also in ocean policy. Australia is putting together a national policy on issues relating to the oceans, their use and care, which is due for release mid 1998.

"It is the only one of its kind in the world. Canada has an Oceans Policy, but it is not be as broad as Australia's Ocean Policy will be. This is symptomatic to me of Australia taking a lead role in what is important."

The policy will be an important vehicle for directing where we want to go as a country and in leading the global position on looking after our oceans. The policy will be implemented through the Marine Science and Technology Plan.

A Media Conference will be held at CSIRO Marine Laboratories, Castray Esplanade at 11.00am December 31. For more information phone

Dr Nan Bray, CSIRO Marine Research, 03 6232 5212

Craig Macaulay, CSIRO Marine Research , 03 6232 5219