On this tenth anniversary of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, and as our nation embarks on a broad set of critical societal initiatives, it is valuable to review the accomplishments of the program, and reflect on conceptual origins of the ocean partnership idea and the process by which the program was conceived and established. Although the specific recommendations for establishment of a new program and coordinating mechanisms are contained in several reports discussed below, the conceptual underpinnings originate in a number of earlier activities.

Watkins, J.D., T.R. Schaff, and R.W. Spinrad. 2009. How the oceanographic community created a National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Oceanography 22(2):20–24, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.33.

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1. CORE (Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education). 1996. Oceans 2000: Bridging the Millennia–Partnerships for Stakeholders in the Oceans.
2. National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 216 pp.
3. Pew Oceans Commission. 2003. America’s Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change. Final Report, 144 pp. Available online at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_detail.aspx?id=130 (accessed April 3, 2009).
4. JSOST (Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology). 2007. Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States for the Next Decade: An Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy. Available online at: http://ocean.ceq.gov/about/docs/orppfinal.pdf (accessed July 24, 2007).
5. US Commission on Ocean Policy. 2004. An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century. Final Report. Available online at: http://oceancommission.gov/documents/full_color_rpt/welcome.html (accessed April 3, 2009).

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