OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 375 



mals make remarkable migrations out to sea and back again. Ocean- 

 ographic factors that influence these movements are not known, but 

 their discovery would help to explain the reasons for variations in. 

 shrimp abundance. 



Albacore are probably the most highly migratory of all the tunaSy 

 ranging from one side of the Pacific to the other. For a period of 

 about 10 years in the late 1920's, they failed to appear in any num- 

 bers off the North American coast. Some change in oceanographic 

 conditions may have caused this temporary change in habits, but we 

 do not know the cause, although some success has been achieved in 

 forecasting albacore runs on the basis of spring temperatures and 

 currents. 



To obtain continuous oceanographic observations to fill in the gaps 

 between cruises, some method of automatic observation is needed. 

 Our scientists have pioneered in the development and testing of such 

 methods in the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. We are taking ad- 

 vantage of every opportunity to improve the methods and techniques 

 of oceanography as applied to the fisheries and hope to place even 

 greater emphasis on oceanography as time goes on. 



The full significance of oceanography in fishery investigations has 

 never been adequately explored. Until recently, fishery biologists and 

 oceanographers have tended to work separately, never really planning 

 their investigations in such a way that one would complement the 

 other. To remedy this situation we have established two centers of 

 ocean research within our Bureau, one at Palo Alto, Calif., and one in 

 Washington, D.C. The California laboratory already has made some 

 significant achievements, one of which was the chart of surface tem- 

 perature anomalies that we showed you earlier. 



Another was the publication of a wind atlas, to show fishermen 

 where they could find fishing areas relatively free of stormy weather. 

 Our Washington laboratory was established more recently, and its 

 work is just beginning. We anticipate that these laboratories will be 

 extremely valuable in analyzing our present knowledge of fishery 

 oceanography and in pointing out gaps in knowledge that should be 

 filled. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. McKernan, have you a further presentation? 



Mr. McKernan. We have completed our presentation, ]Mr. Chair- 

 man. 



Mr. MiixER. We were interested yesterday and are very much con- 

 cerned about the recent report gotten out by the Committee on Ocean- 

 ogi'aphy in Bulletin 655 on the disposal of atomic wastes. Have you 

 made any investigation into what effect this practice may have on 

 the fisheries offshore ? 



Mr. McKernan. Mr. Chairman, one of our staff was a member of 

 the committee which made this particular study. Dr. Walter Chip- 

 man, one of our staff members. We had another consultant, one of 

 my staff members in the Washington office, one of Mr. McHugh's as- 

 sistants. We have examined this particular situation as thoroughly 

 as possible. 



Mr. Mili.er. Of course, laymen who read this report become quite 

 confused, because at best it reaches a number of conclusions which are 

 dicta. We continuously find very positive information. 



Is it correct that this is a sort of interim thing, or is it final ? 



