OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 263 



vessel is not a "headache" to men experienced in handling seamen or con- 

 versant with the costs of various phases of ship maintenance and management. 



Thousands of dollars' worth of equipment — nets, trawl doors, wire, and 

 other gear have been damaged or destroyed entirely for lack of proper care or 

 stowage. On the dock at Woods Hole is a mountain of fishing equipment rusting 

 and rotting away for lack of proper care and protection from the weather. 

 Perhaps enough of this equipment has been carted away to the dump already 

 to cover the salary of a competent marine superintendent for a year. 



A closer cooperation between the activities of the two research vessels in 

 this region would result in lower costs of gear and a more integrated work 

 schedule. In some few instances, one research vessel could do the work of two, 

 if care were taken in planning the cruises. One or two competent maintenance 

 men, working in a single gear shed to serve the two vessels, would save countless 

 hours of delay aboard the vessels by mending nets, repairing gear, and making 

 up new equipment. Money is needlessly being spent to purchase completed 

 nets and trawl gear, whereas the required materials could be bought in bulk 

 quantities and made up by our own maintenance men, or equipment specialists. 



This term "equipment specialists" should be scrutinized. It is the title of 

 numerous classified employees connected with our laboratories. Some of these 

 employees are truly expert gear specialists and many are not. Our real special- 

 ists are aboard the vessels, working at their trade, 12 hours a day. But these 

 men who have been working at their trade for 40 years or more, are never asked 

 for advice, never consulted about new gear or contemplated fishing activities. 

 They have, in many cases, reached a point where they will not even offer unso- 

 licited suggestions, for experience has taught them that their ideas are not 

 wanted. Many thousands of dollars' worth of equipment has gone by the board 

 for lack of proper rigging, or understanding of the ordinary practices of 

 seamanship. 



The men on the Service's research vessel are not encouraged to offer their 

 ideas and suggestions. In many instances they have been discouraged from 

 taking any interest in the development of new gear. And this within the branch 

 of fisheries called "exploration and gear research." Even private industry has 

 found it profitable and to its advantage to encourage employee interest in 

 improving equipment and operations. 



We have men on our vessels who have spent hours of their own time and 

 many dollars of their own money in pursuing an idea for new equipment, only 

 to find their superiors ashore uninterested and unenthusiastic, probably because 

 of their lack of understanding of the problem. 



Men, and most especially fishermen, with their heritage of independence and 

 self-sufficiency, do not like to be supervised by shoreside personnel totally 

 unfamiliar with ship gear and equipment. It is like throwing salt on an open 

 wound when such shoreside per.sonnel are rated as gear and equipment specialists. 



The budget set up for the Albatross III at the start of the fiscal year 1959 was 

 sufficient to operate the vessel for a year, with a minimum of maintenance work 

 and average repairs. Each month the vessel has received a budget sheet showing 

 expenses to date and balance in the appropriations. The last such sheet 

 received was dated January 31, 1959. It showed that the vessel was operating 

 well within its budget and had sufficient funds to operate the rest of the year. If 

 the Service is in fact without funds, then where did these budget figures come 

 from ? 



Although the welfare of the actual men involved in the deactivation of the 

 Albatross III is of little importance when compared to the jeopardization of 

 the country's research program, America has had a long background of standing 

 for and fighting for the value and dignity of each of its individual citizens. To 

 summarily deactivate the Ablatross III without careful examination of all 

 the ramifications of the situation can only be called a blunder. It is unthinkable 

 that this vessel should be deleted from our already insufficient research program, 

 curtailing the biological research so important to our national welfare at this 

 critical time when maritime nations the world over are exploring the waters 

 washing our very shores in ultramodern research vessels. 



It is the recommendation of the undersigned, that before the U.S. Govern- 

 ment's only major research vessel is taken out of service, further study by 

 responsible and impartial authority be undertaken, to determine the truth of 

 the myriad claims and counterclaims, reasons, and excuses put forth to justify 

 this action. 



