65 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman: 



It is a great honor to appear before the House Subcommittee on Oceanography, Gulf of Mexico 

 and the Outer Continental Shelf of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. I find it 

 particularly rewarding to be able to state my views on undersea research having been in the 

 business for 3 1 years. 



1 would first like to offer some background information on undersea research through the years, 

 its contribution to our knowledge of the oceans and large lakes of the world, and to our ultimate 

 ability to properly protect, manage and utilize their resources. 



In 1951 an eminent marine biologist, Dr. Lionel Walford, reported in Scientific American his 

 studies on the deep ocean scattering layer of marine organisms in the Pacific. After towing a net 

 for several hours and retrieving it aboard his research vessel, he wrote: 



"What happens in the depth when a plankton net drops at the end of a wire 

 ... is there any order of things down there or are the components of the 

 plankton only randomly distributed ... We can only assume that as the net 

 is hauled through the various swarms of animals, it takes from among 

 them those so unwary, so inagile or simply so unfortunate as to get into it. 

 When it is at last emptied into a pan on deck, how can anyone reconstruct 

 from that chaotic jumble of organisms the pattern of life below ? How 

 can anyone know ..." 



These were the musings of a man with the foresight to know that there was a missing element in 

 his and other ocean research, which relied only on blindly capturing organisms or measuring the 

 depths from the deck of a ship. 



By the early '60s the use of submersibles and diving was in the development stage. Anticipation 

 was high that the ability to explore and conduct research from an undersea vantage point was 

 going to pay off in large dividends. Large companies such as Grumman, Lockheed and General 

 Dynamics built submersibles. Even General Mills had a submersible on the drawing board. The 

 Navy undersea habitat Sealab promised that scientists were going to live for months and conduct 

 research in deep water on the outer Continental Shelf. The only dive to the deepest part of the 

 ocean was made in the Trieste during this period. Unfortimately, at least from the standpoint of 

 the ocean community and in my opinion the coimtry, the feverous race for space was also 

 underway. Even though the United States was in relatively good economic times, we simply 

 could not invest heavily in undersea exploration and at the same time compete with the former 

 Soviets for space. For lack of an ocean Sputnik, undersea research was left in the dust by the 

 space program. 



In 1970, following the famous Stratton Commission report, the U.S. reorganized its oceans and 

 atmospheric programs and founded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

 (NOAA), including a small undersea research component called the Manned Undersea Science 

 and Technology (MUS&T) program. MUST served through much of the '70s with varying 

 success, but its most valuable contribution was in the firsthand experience with undersea 



