The U.S. Coast Guard is in the Department of the Treasury 

 in peace time and in the Department of the Navy when the 

 country is at war. It has finally been authorized by the Con- 

 gress to engage in ocean research other than chasing icebergs 

 and fur seals. Its ancient reason for being in the Department 

 of the Treasury was to protect the revenues derived from cus- 

 toms. In these days of diminishing tariffs and the free use 

 of alcoholic beverages there seems to be no real reason for it 

 being an orphan in that Department, which has no other 

 substantial ocean interest. 



The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey is in the Department 

 of Commerce for about the same reason that the Maritime 

 Administration is. There was no other better place to put it. 

 Its work is almost exclusively concerned with the ocean. It, 

 with the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, are the two key 

 civilian ocean research Bureaus of the Federal Government. 



The National Oceanographic Data Center is a recent con- 

 fection whose organization in some ways typifies the organiza- 

 tional disarray of ocean matters in the United States Govern- 

 ment. It is in the Office of the U.S. Navy Oceanographer 

 for housekeeping purposes with the clear understanding that 

 he is to have no unique policy control over its operations. It is 

 funded by contributions of the several executive agencies that 

 use its services. It has no regular appropriation of its own, 

 although its data are the key element in the entire National 

 Ocean Program. Its operations are pretty well ordered by an 

 Advisory Board composed of distinguished scientists, some in 

 the government and some not. Obviously this is the data heart 

 of the Department of the Ocean. 



The Coastal Engineering Research Center is a new name for 

 the old Beach Erosion Board and is in the U.S. Army Engi- 

 neers Corps. The justification for it being in the Department 

 of the Ocean appears plain, as there would not be much beach 

 erosion without ocean action. The relation of this work to 

 that of the Department of the Army is a little obscure and 

 its scientists are, of course, civilian. 



The Sea-Air Interaction Laboratory is a new creation put 

 in the Department of Commerce last year for lack of a better 

 place. Since 7 1 % of the earth's atmosphere overlies the ocean, 

 and the ocean is a prime source of the energy driving the winds, 

 the reasons for it being included in the Department of the 

 Ocean are reasonably obvious. 



If all of these Agencies and Bureaus were placed into a 

 Department of the Ocean, ocean affairs of the United States 

 Government would be consolidated into three large, well- 

 balanced units, and a number of splinters in the Bureaus and 

 Agencies whose major activities are land oriented. 



The three major ocean outfits would be : 



1 ) The Department of the Navy — Military 



2) The Department of the Ocean — Civilian Industry, and 



3 ) The National Science Foundation — Academic 



There would still be a number of Agencies and Bureaus 

 which had activities in respect of the ocean which are neces- 

 sary for them to continue but minor in scope relative to their 

 total activities. These include the Atomic Energy Commis- 

 sion — The Bureau of Mines — The Geologic Survey — The Bu- 

 reau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife — Public Health Service — 

 Office of Education — and — Smithsonian Institution. 



There would still be scope for an Interagency Committee 

 on Oceanography for correlating the work of these entities in 

 the ocean with the three major Departments noted above. 



Conclusions 



We have been talking about the future of North American 

 fisheries and all of what I have said above is intended to bear 

 upon the questions Dr. Kask has raised as to why these fisheries 

 do not flourish as do those of some other countries in Asia 

 and Europe. Several people in the fishing industry and some 

 in the Congress have expressed the view that we should extend 

 our jurisdiction far out to sea and protect our coastal re- 

 sources from the fishermen of Asia and Europe. What they 

 mean is that we should try to obtain exclusive rights to these 

 resources because our foreign competitors are out-competing 

 us off our own beaches. 



There is something ludicrous in the United States even con- 

 sidering such a departure in policy, much less talking about it 

 in public. In this country we boast of the power of our com- 

 petitive economy, our managerial and governing skills, our 

 scientific and technological contribution to human progress, our 

 elevated standard of living, the high level of education and 

 training of our common people which gives us industrial 

 strength and good government, our ability to automate even- 

 thing and run it by computers, and above all our ability to rule 

 the waves every bit as good as old Brittania ever did. 



But some, nevertheless, seek to raise imaginary lines in the 

 ocean contrary to international law, the nation's interest, and 

 the policy that has served us well since Thomas Jefferson 

 enunciated it. Across this line other fishermen should not 

 come one way, nor fish go the other. These are our fish with 

 American flags on them and they should know enough to stay 

 home. Other fishermen should not catch these fish which 

 wear American flags. 



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