In the Congress, House Concurrent Resolution 57 and Senate Concurrent 

 Resolution 23 were introduced in 1969 setting forth objectives and expecta- 

 tions of the Decade. - 



At its meeting on May 23, 1969, the Marine Sciences Council received a 

 report on the Decade from a special Council task force and directed that 

 accelerated governmental planning be undertaken to define specific Decade 

 programs that would deserve highest priority during fiscal years 1971-74. 



In response to the Council's request for explicit program recommenda- 

 tions, an Interagency Decade Planning Group was formed and stafTed by 

 the Council Secretariat. The group developed preliminary Decade planning 

 methodology; evaluated 150 Decade-related proposals including proposals by 

 the academies, GURC, international scientific bodies, Federal agencies, 

 Council staflf, and individual U.S. scientists and engineers; identified the 

 base of ongoing federally funded Decade-related activities; defined goals 

 and objectives; and recommended general goals with priority program 

 elements consistent with the objectives of the IOC proposed outline. The 

 program recommendations were formally reviewed by the Council's Com- 

 mittee for Policy Review in September, and the administration announced 

 plans to proceed with the Decade in October. 



International Preparation for the Decade 



The international commitment to an International Decade of Ocean 

 Exploration was realized in U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2467 D 

 (XXIII), proposed by the United States and adopted on December 21, 

 1968. General Assembly Resolution 2414 (XXIII) also endorsed the con- 

 cept of a long-term and expanded program of oceanographic research 

 including the Decade. The intergovernmental planning phase of the 

 Expanded Program and Decade began in June 1969 when a 17-nation 

 Working Group of the IOC prepared a draft comprehensive outline of the 

 scope of the U.N.'s long-term program of oceanic research, in accordance 

 with the U.N. resolution identifying the IOC as a focal point for planning. 

 The Working Group proposed that the Decade would be the acceleration 

 phase of the long-term program. The U.N. Seabeds Committee favorably 

 considered the comprehensive outline in August, and in September it was 

 formally approved by the IOC. It was considered favorably by ECOSOC 

 and the Twenty-fourth Session of the U.N. General Assembly in the fall. 



In 1970, the IOC will seek to adopt internationally agreed objectives for 

 the program and begin to seek international agreements on specific pro- 

 gram elements that will contribute to achieving these objectives. Initially, 

 proposals will be considered by the IOC Group of Experts on Long-Term 

 Scientific Policy and Planning, established by the IOC at its meeting in 

 Paris in January 1970 to develop the international scope and content of the 

 Expanded Program. 



Three developments have heightened international interest in ocean ex- 

 ploration and research. 



" The resolutions are included in app. B-4. 



197 



