". . . the science of abyssal research cannot, from its nature, advance 

 slowly and gradually; it must proceed by strides . . ." 



H.M.S. CHALLENGER EXPEDITION, 1885 



Chapter IX 



LAUNCHING AN INTERNATIONAL 

 DECADE OF OCEAN EXPLORATION 



Following a call for broadened international cooperation in ocean explora- 

 tion in his State of the Union message, President Johnson on March 8, 1968, 

 proposed the launching of "an historic and unprecedented adventure — an 

 International Decade of Ocean Exploration for the 1970's." Recognizing a 

 rapidly growing wordwide interest in exploiting ocean resources, the im- 

 portance of understanding ocean processes, and the value of conducting 

 ocean investigations as a multinational enterprise, he urged that all nations 

 join together in a concerted, long-term, cooperative program of ocean 

 exploration on a worldwide basis. He emphasized that such a program 

 could : 



— "expand cooperative efforts by scientists from many nations to probe 

 the mysteries of the sea ; 



— increase our knowledge of food resources, to assist in meeting world- 

 wide threats of malnutrition and disease ; 



— bring closer the day when the people of the world can exploit new 

 sources of minerals and fossil fuels." 

 The Decade is envisioned as a period of intensified collaborative planning 

 among nations and expansion of exploration capabilities by individual na- 

 tions, followed by execution of national and international programs of 

 oceanic research and resource exploration so as to assemble a far more 

 comprehensive knowledge of the sea in a reasonably short time.^ 



^ The Council report "International Decade of Ocean Exploration," May 1968, 

 has been distributed throughout the United States and abroad as a basis for discussion 

 of the concept of the Decade at international and national meetings. 



125 



