Introduction 



national policy to intensify study of the sea and to convert to practical reality 

 its inherent promise for man's benefit. It reaffirmed the leadership of the 

 President of the United States in marine science affairs. It provided the 

 President with two new instruments of assistance — a policy planning and 

 coordinating Council at Cabinet-level chaired by the Vice President, and 

 an advisory Commission of distinguished citizens to develop long-range 

 recommendations. 



As the Act recognized, scientific research, exploration, and development 

 of resources in the oceans must be related to man's activities on land. Thus, 

 while marine science goals, policies, and programs must be examined in 

 terms of unique characteristics of the natural environment which they 

 share in common, they must also be examined in relation to the social 

 environment — the major goals of society and the Nation. 



The Chairman of the Marine Sciences Council enumerated many of 

 these relationships between the sea and society when he reported to the 

 Congress that: 



There are one and one-half billion hungry people in the world. The full 

 food potential of the seas, seriously neglected in the past, must be realized to 

 combat famine and despair. Technologies now at hand can be directed 

 toward increasing the world's fishing catch and enriching the diets of the 

 underfed. 



Seventy-five percent of our population lives along our coasts and Great 

 Lakes. Nine of our fifteen largest metropolitan areas are on the oceans and 

 Great Lakes, and three are on ocean tributaries. Twenty million children 

 live in these metropolitan areas within sight of potential water recreation 

 areas but are often denied their use. Only three percent of our ocean and 

 Great Lakes coastline has been set aside for public use or conservation. 



More than 90 percent by value of our intercontinental commerce travels by 

 ship. Although there have been rapid changes in the character of ocean 

 cargoes and technologies of cargo handling, the average age of our port 

 structures is 45 years and the average age of our merchant ships is 19 years. 



The continuing threats to world peace require our Navy to maintain a high 

 level of readiness and versatility through a sea-based deterrent and undersea 

 warfare capability. Middle East conflicts following closure of the Gulf of 

 Aqaba vividly emphasize the urgent need for a strengthened code of inter- 

 national law of the sea. 



Thirty million Americans swim in the oceans, eleven million are saltwater 

 sport fishermen, and eight million engage in recreational boating in our 

 coastal States. All these activities are threatened by the dumping of in- 

 dustrial wastes into ocean tributaries. This pollution will increase seven-fold 

 by the year 2000 unless there are drastic changes in waste handling. 



research, engineering, and technological development related to the marine 

 environment. 



The maTine environment is considered to include the oceans, the Continental 

 Shelf and estuaries of the United States and its territories, the Great Lakes, and the 

 resources of the oceans and Great Lakes. 



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