Ocean Engineering 



was adopted by the Council to consider problems of off-shore safety and 

 their amelioration. The Coast Guard was recommended as the lead agency 

 for: 



— establishment of design standards and certification procedures for 

 Continental Shelf structures and devices to reduce the likelihood of 

 collapsing structures, bursting oil containers, or other structural 

 accidents ; 

 — elimination of wrecks, debris, pollutants, and litter on the Continental 

 Shelf which may be a hazard to life or property or an interference 

 to useful activity ; 

 — a study of means to minimize conflicts among the various activities 

 including: shipping, transfer of liquid or gases in pipelines, fishing, 

 recreation, drilling, pumping, and storing materials underwater or 

 at the surface. 



Engineering for Non-Military Objectives 



Private industry can and will undertake marine technology development 

 on its own initiative where the ratio of returns to investment compares 

 favorably in amount and timeliness to alternative ventures on land. Between 

 these private efforts and Government military programs are areas in which 

 the Federal Government may have to sponsor additional research and de- 

 velopment in order to meet some of the objectives of the Marine Sciences 

 Act. Exploration of the ocean, prediction and control of environmental 

 conditions, major modifications of coasts and harbors, and fuller exploration 

 of both food and minerals from the sea are cases where Federal investments 

 in technology may be warranted. 



A contract study for the Council was conducted to identify technological 

 needs not being met by either Government or industry. These were found to 

 be power sources and transmission, cable systems, fishing boats and equip- 

 ment, submerged navigation and communication, near bottom instrumenta- 

 tion and open ocean handling and transfer systems. 



Additional scientific information seems especially needed in: 

 — coastal and oceanic hydrodynamics; 

 — underwater soil mechanics ; 

 — marine biology research for fisheries technology ; 

 — exploration for mining the ocean bottoms. 

 Two unresolved policy issues have also been identified for study : 



How can the Government support multi-purpose marine technology, 

 serving several public interests, yet below a threshold of budget justifi- 

 cation for any single agency? 



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