OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 7 



waves. Depending on the size of the ship and the speed at which it 

 progresses, some will respond very unfavorably to waves of certain 

 frequency and height. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Is that a saving of both time and money ? 

 Mr, Vetter. Yes, sir. This ship routing system based on wave 

 forecasts now is in use by the Military Sea Transport Service. In a 

 trial nm wliich has been underway for about 1% years and involves 

 approximately 70 ships they have succeeded in reducing the scheduled 

 passenger transit time in the North Atlantic by 1 day. Even with 

 this reduction in schedule ships routed by this system have never been 

 late even by 1 hour and many have been early. 

 Mr. DiNGELL. It is an increase in efficiency ? 



Mr, Vetter. Yes, the MSTS estimates that this has saved about 

 $11/2 million in the trial run so far. 



I would like to point out that the basic research that led to the 

 ability to use this system was done by two or three oceanographers 

 who were just interested in wave forecasting and the problems of 

 describing what real ocean waves are like. They had no idea that 

 this would then be turned into a ship routing system as a practical 

 end product. 



The first piece of basic research came from a mathematician who 

 was not even interested in ocean waves but who was concerned with 

 a way of describing the background noise in a transmitted radio sig- 

 nal. Some of the mathematics that he worked out came to the 

 attention of one of the oceanographers at New York University who 

 noted the potentiality of using similar equations to describe the 

 chaotic, irregular motion of ocean waves. 



He reworked the mathematics and developed a new wave forecast- 

 ing system. 



One of his students saw the possibility of writing a doctoral thesis 

 on this wave forecasting method and slanting it toward the problem 

 of routing ships so as to cut down on passage time. 



This man is now at the Hydrographic Office assi^ing in developing 

 this system. 



The point is that this whole capability which has saved about $1^/^ 

 million just in the trial run is based on the work of two or three people 

 over the past 5 years. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Wliat about the potentiality of exploiting fishery 

 resources ? 



Mr, Vetter, Well, I think this is very gi*eat. Our present situation, 

 if I can speak very casually, is analogous to the early hunter as far as 

 exploiting the living resources of the sea are concerned. 



We are way back in the dark ages where human beings got their 

 food by going out and shooting with a bow and arrow or catching 

 it with nets. I believe that it is perfectly within our capability within 

 the next generation to become farmers of the oceans, to actually intro- 

 duce trace elements into the seas so that we can increase the produc- 

 tivity, to perhaps cultivate species, perhaps even to develop new species 

 that will be particularly suitable for living in various parts of the 

 ocean, perhaps even to fence off in some way parts of the ocean so 

 that we can control populations. 



I think right now that we have the capability of catching all the 

 fish that the people in the United States want to eat. I think this 

 will change in the next 50 or 100 years. 



