OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 43 



shore facilities. They need the kind of general institutional support that will 

 permit them to maintain their salary scale at the current market value and pro- 

 vide reasonable stability to their operations. 



The small laboratories also need ship-and-shore facilities but generally not so 

 desperately. Often their chief material need is for modern scientific equipment, 

 and in this respect their work tends to be limited in scope because they cannot 

 hope to acquire the large stock of expensive instruments that are more or less 

 standard equipment in larger organizations. However, their most pressing need 

 is for growth and diversification of their staffs. The small laboratories consist 

 almost exclusively of biologists and biological oceanographers. They have 

 learned a few techniques of physical and chemical oceanography to supply back- 

 ground for their biological studies, but specialists in these subjects are essential 

 both for teaching and for solving the particularly difficult problems of coastal 

 circulation and nutrient cycles. 



We find ourselves looking at the two faces of the same coin. The small labo- 

 ratory has to grow in order to solve its problems effectively, and having done so 

 it finds a whole new set of problems waiting for it. Perhaps some laboratories 

 have overexpanded, but it is clear that gradual expansion is necessary in order to 

 meet the increasingly exacting requirements of modern oceanography. 



Government laboratories 



The federally operated laboratories, both Navy and fishery, also have serious 

 financial problems. They have a more stable situation than the large university 

 laboratories, but their budgets fliTctuate unpredictably. It is commonly con- 

 sidered that their primary function is to be service organizations conducting 

 routine surveys and applied research. Some basic research is undertaken, but 

 when budgets are curtailed the basic research is the first to suffer. This is one 

 reason why Federal laboratories do not attract large numbers of highly trained 

 scientists. Table 3 shows a disproportionately large ratio of total scientific staff 

 to Ph. D.'s in these laboratories as compared with the universities. It is not a 

 healthy situation, and it probably cannot be corrected until legislators become 

 aware that it is a good investment to maintain a stable, long-term program of 

 basic research in Federal laboratories. 



Comparison of laboratories 



One way of comparing the problems and organization of various laboratories is 

 to examine the cost of the operation per staff member, as shown in table 3. The 

 size of the staff is a crude measurement of the research product, but it is a 

 practical way of looking at the matter because the management has to think in 

 terms of cost per unit of accomplishment. 



In seaside laboratories of a seasonal nature which pay only the summer salaries 

 of their staff, the cost per staff member is usually about two to five thousand 

 dollars. It is seldom larger unless the laboratory supports a considerable number 

 of visiting investigators who are not listed as staff members. 



At the opposite extreme are the large, deep water operations that cost $50,000, 

 more or less, per senior staff" member. This reflects both the high cost of operating 

 large ships and the relatively large number of junior scientists and nonscientific 

 staff members at these institutions. 



The cost per scientist is distinctly lower in the small university laboratories 

 than in any other group. In part this is due to the lower cost of coastwise opera- 

 tions, but it also is to some extent an indication of inadequate equipment and 

 supporting staff. The number of technicians and nonscientific staff members is 

 undoubtedly too low for an efficient use of trained scientists. 



The small fishery laboratories have field programs more or less similar to those 

 of the small universities, so that the financial problems of these two groups are 

 somewhat comparable. The very high cost of $60,000 per Ph.D. in the fishery 

 laboratories simply reflects the very small number of people in this category. 

 More reasonable figures for comparative purposes are the cost of $24,000 per 

 master or Ph. D. and $15,000 per scientific staff member. Each of these is $4,000 

 more than the corresponding figures for university laboratories, and it is susi)ected 

 that they are more realistic for this kind of operation. 



Total support 



While making this study, we tried to estimate that portion of the total budgets 



of the laboratories that is actually spent on oceanographic research. Our best 



estimate is that this is about 63 percent of the total. This figure contains 



subjective elements as indicated earlier. However, it should also be recognized 



38170—59 4 



