Building Maritime Partnerships with Ocean Science and Technology

Abstract

Oceans link India across the continents in its benign quest for peace and tranquility. Compared to the vastness of the oceanic imponderables, the understanding of the oceanic environment appears to be in its infancy. There is a need to enhance information about the oceanic sciences across large distances and great depths, as this would enhance national security. This is well beyond the resource capacity of any one nation in the Indian Ocean Region. As a first step, the area of cooperation can include the setting up of sea observatories. This would require collaboration in sensor technologies for ocean environment, computation and processing ability, management of information, and enhanced communication systems over and under the seas. Such partnerships would create enhanced oceanic information zones, which would help strengthen the national security of a nation as well as regional maritime security.