OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 387 



I have not yet seen a report of this meeting. I cannot tell you anything 

 about what went on, 



Mr. Drewry. In connection with Browns Ledge, which is rather 

 close inshore and a rather shallow area, is that an area where there 

 never had been fish before ? 



Mr. McHuGH. No; I think, it seems to me, Mr. Drewry, that the 

 problem here and the thing in the minds of this committee when they 

 were determining sites was that the chief danger was actually picking 

 up these containers in gear. I am sure the committee felt that merely 

 the presence of fish in the vicinity would not be enough to cause any 

 danger. So that it is my guess that what they would say would be that 

 right in that region probably sport fishing would not cause any prob- 

 lem because the fish would not be contaminated. 



Mr. Drewry. It seems to me, as I recall the testimony here and other 

 testimony, that certainly this point was not made clear that it was 

 not to interfere with sport fishing. From the list of sites, many are 

 mentioned as sites where there is a wreck or a site which has been used 

 as a dumping ground for explosives, or something of that sort, but the 

 impression I received was that it was to be a forbidden area, even 

 though it is low level waste, to be a forbidden and perhaps patrolled 

 area. 



What is the scope of the biological research functions of the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries? By that I mean are you limited to dealing 

 with studies concerning the life cycles and abundance and locations 

 of known food fish or commercial fish, or is it the whole field of marine 

 biology ? 



Mr. McKernan. Pretty much the whole field of marine biology as 

 it pertains at the present time or might pertain in the future to the 

 use of the living resources of the sea for food. 



Mr. Drewry. Total living resources of the sea for food ? 



Mr. McKernan. Yes. 



Mr. Drewry. Would that include studies into various plant or 

 animal organisms that are not themselves usable but nevertheless have 

 a place somewhere in what was referred to yesterday as the food web 

 of the sea ? 



Mr. McKernan. Yes; we certainly study the organisms and the 

 general chain of life in the sea. 



Mr. Drewry. The development of rough fishes in certain areas, 

 you would want to know how come they are developing ? I am speak- 

 ing of carp and others of that sort. 



Mr. McKernan. Yes. 



Mr. Drewtiy. You spoke of your program in relation to the Na- 

 tional Academy of Science's suggested 10-year program. I under- 

 stood you to say that you budgeted within the scope of your authority. 

 I did not quite understand that. Or rather, you programed within 

 the scope of your authority. How do you mean that ? 



Mr. McKernan. Of course, the way I understand our national 

 budget, the President makes a decision about budgetary levels and 

 these are passed down to the various departments of Government. 

 Then the department applies certain limitations on each of the bureaus 

 within the department. Our bureau budgets within these limitations 

 imposed by the President's budget itself. 



Mr. Drewry. And that is your program ? 



