14 OCEANOGRAPHY IX THE UNITED STATES 



Mr. Vetter. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Oliver. It has recently been decommissioned, is that correct? 



Mr. Vetter. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Oliver. I have received some correspondence with regard to it. 

 I am wondering what the real basis for that decommissioning is. Da 

 you happen to know ? 



Mr. Vetter. Well, my own information is that the Albatross III 

 is a very old ship and that she is very expensive to operate and main- 

 tain. Beyond this I would not care to comment. 



Mr. Oli\"er. My information indicated that it not only had been 

 certified as seaworthy but at least some people think it is necessary 

 that it should be still operated in view of the scarcity of other avail- 

 able vessels that we may have at the moment. 



I was interested to Imow what the picture really amounts to, 

 whether this is just a self-serving statement that I have had or whether 

 or not there was actually some eventual loss that this country would 

 suffer from not using it in view of the scarcity of other vessels for 

 this purpose. 



Mr. Vetter. I would rather not comment any further on this. 

 My only knowledge of this is all indirect but it is my impression that 

 she was decommissioned because of the expense to maintain the ship 

 and the relative inefficiency of operation at sea. 



ISIr. OLi\rER. So that, as a practical result, we have one less vessel 

 in this research work. 



Mr. Vetter. Yes, sir. 



]Mr. Miller. We will eventually have a witness on that. 



Mr. Oliver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Flynn. 



Mr. Flynn. Does your definition of a study of oceanography in- 

 clude the Great Lakes and other inland lakes ? 



Mr. Vetter. No, sir. The Great Lakes and all lakes have some 

 things in common with the oceans and in some cases they can serve as 

 small models of the oceans. 



However, for our own frame of reference in studying this problem, 

 it does not include any fresh water lakes. 



Mr. Flynn. Those people located in the midsection of the Ameri- 

 can continent could not expect any value from this study in, for in- 

 stance, gaining more knowledge on the control of the lamprey that has 

 practically ruined the million dollar trout fishing industry? That 

 would not come under the scope of this study ? 



Mr. Vetter. It is hard to say. I would not like to guarantee 

 whether it would or would not. 



The lamprey is an eel that spends part of its life in the oceans and 

 part of its life in fresh water. Any scientific gain in either of these 

 areas would be useful in trying to determine how to control it. 



Mr. Flynn. But to date various committees studying oceanography 

 have not studied the inland lakes or included these lakes in their 

 studies? 



Mr. Vetter. Well, there are cases in which for simplicity we will 

 take an oceanographic problem and do an experiment in an inland 

 lake to see what the relationships are. 



However, in most cases there is not very much interchange between 

 the limnologist, the fresh water scientist, and the salt water scientist. 



