11 



auspices of NURP and its predecessor under NOAA— very effective 

 program that kept that spirit ahve but now, alas, dead. 



When I entered the Tektite underwater laboratory as an aqua- 

 naut in July of 1970, NURP-like programs for this country were 

 being channeled through the Department of Interior, but when I 

 emerged two weeks later, the decision had been made to create 

 NOAA and move these programs and the many other things now 

 embraced by NOAA into the Department of Commerce. What has 

 evolved is not at all like what was anticipated by those who ex- 

 plained at the time that NOAA was intended to be a "wet NASA". 



Naturally, I am a strong supporter of this country's commitment 

 to the space program, and but I am also among those who believe 

 that justification for exploration and research of the vast un- 

 knowns of this planet from the inside out are at least as urgent 

 and compelling. I certainly do not favor reducing NASA's funding 

 to increase ocean efforts, but there is some justification for equali- 

 ty. I trust that it is clear that I do not mean to imply that NASA 

 should henceforth be limited to the equivalent of NOAA's budget 

 for undersea science and technology considering especially that one 

 toothbrush holder for the space shuttle may cost $200,000. 



As an example of the disparity between the rapid development of 

 aerospace capability as compared to ocean access, it is useful to 

 recall how much progress has been made upward and downward in 

 the last six and a half decades since the time that Charles Lind- 

 bergh made his historic first solo crossing of the Atlantic. Soon 

 thereafter, in the early 1930's, William Beebe and Otis Barton 

 made the first successful descents in history to about half a mile 

 beneath the surface of that same ocean. 



Today, it is still considered remarkable to be able to work at that 

 depth — a half a mile beneath the surface. We can, of course, go 

 deeper, but it is still not an easy or ordinary thing. I am among 

 one of the privileged few who have piloted small submersibles that 

 deep and have participated as a scientific researcher in others in- 

 cluding a dive that I made while serving as Chief Scientist of 

 NOAA in the deepest diving submersible operating today. It is not 

 a U.S. submersible. It is the Japanese Shinkai 6500. 



This three-person system is one of a global fleet of but five 

 manned submersibles capable of traveling to as much as about half 

 the ocean's depth. France has one, the Nautile. The U.S. Navy op- 

 erates the Sea Cliff. Occasionally, the Sea Cliff allows civilian sci- 

 entists aboard usually under the auspices of NURP. Russia has two 

 launched in 1987 and from the beginning dedicated to scientific re- 

 search and exploration and rather often allows U.S. scientists to 

 participate. Some are right now participating in a project in the 

 Pacific. Too often U.S. scientists must go to other countries asking 

 for access to their technology. Where is ours and where is our lead- 

 ership? 



The Shinkai 6500 is the deepest diving submersible now in oper- 

 ation. The U.S. submarine, Alvin, has been in operation since 1964 

 at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It is a proven workhorse 

 that continues to produce an astonishingly rich track record of per- 

 formance in depths to 4,000 meters, about the average depth of the 

 ocean — not by any means half the ocean's depth. NURP contrib- 

 utes to its operation in collaboration with NSF and the U.S. Navy, 



