84 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



STATEMENT OF DONALD L. McKERNAN, DIRECTOR, ACCOMPANIED 

 BY ANDREW W. ANDERSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF 

 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Mr. Miller. Have you a statement, Mr. McKernan ? 



Mr. McKernan. I have no prepared statement, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. ISIiLLER. You have heard the statement that I have just made. 

 I am certain that you have had some correspondence on this subject. 



Mr. McKernan. Yes, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Miller. Will you proceed from there and tell us why the 

 A Ibatross was decommissioned ? 



Mr. McKernan. Yes, Mr. Chairman. It is a privilege to again 

 address this committee especially on such an important matter as the 

 marine resources of our Nation. 



We have recognized for a number of years that our research vessels 

 are becoming more and more obsolete and are becoming more ex- 

 pensive to operate. This is not only true of those vessels in the 

 New England area but it is true of other vessels with which we are 

 carrying out marine oceanography and marine biological research. 

 Increasing costs and increasing age of these vessels, plus the fact that, 

 for all practical purposes, none of them was constructed for the 

 type of work that they are conducting at the present time has all piled 

 together to make an almost impossible task of gathering data, process- 

 ing it, and making reports to Congress, and also to other scientists, 

 that is the objective of our particular Bureau. 



The Albatross itself is a vessel which was constructed in 1926. It 

 was converted for use by our Bureau in 1948, I believe, but it was 

 an old vessel at that time. It has done quite well until recent years 

 when what we consider to be prohibitive costs have reduced its effec- 

 tiveness and have reduced the effectiveness of our New England 

 research program to the point where it meant that either we further 

 curtail the biological research program or we lay up the boat. 



Having had considerable experience in my own career extending 

 over 20 years with the operation of research vessels, one of the first 

 things I noticed in coming to my present job was that this particular 

 vessel was obsolete and should have been decommissioned. 



Finally, we have found it necessary to do so or we would further 

 reduce our biological research program in New England. 



In New England we consider that we have perhaps the most serious 

 fisheries problem in the United States. There are other serious prob- 

 lems but nevertheless the New England ground fisheries are in need 

 of research work. 



To continue to operate the vessel in anything like an efficient manner 

 would have meant that we would have been compelled to further 

 reduce our work. In tying up the Albatross and hoping that the 

 economic climate of the United States will soon be such that we 

 can design and construct a vessel worthy of this portion of the country 

 and of these great fisheries of New England, we felt that we can do 

 our work better with the funds that we now have through chartering, 

 within our own particular Bureau, for the vessel, Delaware^ which 

 is also in New England and by chartering with outside fisliing boats. 



That is about the sum and substance of it. 



