OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 111 



Mr. McKernan. I recognize that your question is a good one and 

 my answers may not have been too specific in this respect. Es- 

 sentially what it amounts to is that with respect to the general limi- 

 tations of budgets and with respect to our overall program, we can 

 well delay for a short time the replacement of the Albatross. We do 

 need a new vessel to carry out essential oceanographic and marine 

 biological work in New England and our present interim plan will 

 not be adequate for any great length of time so that my answer is along 

 those lines. I am not in a position to say that the administration will 

 approve the construction of the Albatross in fiscal 1961 but I am sure 

 that it is given a high priority in the Department and I am assured 

 that at the very earliest opportunity and consistent with other plans 

 in Government it will be given fair consideration for replacement. 



Mr. Miller. Am I right when I put this interpretation on your 

 answer: that when you get througli evaluating these present data 

 that you have collected in the past, during which time the gathering 

 of new data could be allotted to some charters of private vessels, 

 that unless you have a boat to replace the Albatross there will be a 

 deterioration in the amount and quality of the data you can gather 

 and the work that you can do in this field ? 



Mr. McKernan. That is true, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Drewry. Mr. McKernan, money has been budgeted for re- 

 search. Have 3^ou actually used up all the money that would have 

 gone to this vessel or will what is left go to carry out this backlog 

 work that you are going to clean up on shore ? 



Mr. Mci^ENAN. We have a small amount of money remaining that 

 Avill go into charter work this spring, mostly the intrabureau charter 

 of the Delatvare, and probably a small amount for the remainder of 

 the fiscal year will go into some accelerated shore work, probably not 

 very much because we have pretty well used up all of our funds. 



Mr. Drewry. Mr. Chairman, there are perhaps more questions but 

 they are involved questions where probably Mr. McKernan w^ould 

 have to consult his records. 



May I be permitted to ask him those and ask that he supply them 

 for the record ? 



Mr. Miller. Yes, without objection, that will be the order. We 

 will also leave the record open with respect to the matter of the com- 

 plete data that we want on these boats. 



We can get it now because we want it later anyway in another com- 

 mittee. I pulled some of it out of the air and I think that you and 

 Mr. Drewry together can arrive at that. 



The Chairmax. May I ask one question ? 



Mr. Miller. Yes, ]\ir. Chairman. 



The Chairman. Have you surveyed the reserve fleet to ascertain 

 whether there might be in the reserve fleet a vessel that you could 

 convert to replace the Albatross ? 



Mr. McKernan. Yes, Mr. Bonner, we have and we have not found 

 one that we feel would satisfactorily do the job. 



The Chairman. I have one other question which I would like to 

 ask if you bear with me. Of course, I am interested in the studies 

 that are made in all the localities, the Pacific, Atlantic, and so forth. 

 Why is it more advantageous to explore the north Atlantic than 

 the central or south Atlantic ? 



