Chapter I 



MARINE SCIENCES AND NATIONAL GOALS 

 The Oceans and Sociefy 



Marine science is a term employed in Public Law 89^54 to des- 

 ignate scientific research, engineering, and technological develop- 

 ment related to the marine environment. The marine environment is 

 considered to include the oceans, the Continental Shelf of the United 

 States and its territories, the Great Lakes, and their resources. 



Marine science affairs cannot be considered in isolation. Research 

 and development activities in the oceans must be related to similar 

 activities on land. So, too, must man's exploration and exploitation of 

 the oceans' resources. Marine science goals, policies, programs, and 

 activities must therefore be examined in two ways: as they relate to 

 the unity they derive from the marine environment, and as they con- 

 tribute to major goals of society and the Nation. It is in this second 

 context — the relatively unfulfilled promise of the sea to contribute to 

 human needs — that recent effort became increasingly motivated to deal 

 with major issues of world peace, starvation, and general welfare; 

 the requirements and problems of a growing and increasingly urban- 

 ized population; and the protection of our environment and seashore 

 resources from unnecessary degradation. 



Recognizing the importance of the oceans to society, the Federal 

 Government began in the late 1950's to increase its rate of investment 

 to strengthen the Nation's capabilities in marine research and engi- 

 neering. Concurrently, the business and academic communities and 

 the States began to extend their interests in offshore activities such as 

 intensified petroleum and gas exploration, application of aerospace 

 technology, development of new fisheries, and efforts to preserve 

 coastal areas. These combined efforts have strengthened the extent 

 of our understanding of the oceans, the availability and sophistication 

 of our instrumentation, laboratories, ships, deep submergence vehicles, 

 and other data-collecting platforms, and our ocean science and engi- 

 neering manpower base. 



Indeed, we have progressed significantly during the 1960's, but the 

 total marine sciences enterprise — both public and private — is still 

 small, representing only about three percent of the Nation's total 

 technical effort. 



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