OCEANOGRAPHY 15 



The oceans of the world, as you gentleman know very well by 

 this time, cover a very large area. Nearly three-fourths of the sur- 

 face of the earth is covered by sea water. About 10 percent of the 

 ocean area consists of the continental shelves of the world and most 

 of this Continental Shelf area has been surveyed with some degree of 

 accuracy. 



On the other hand, the other 90 percent of the ocean area, the 

 deep sea has hardly been surveyed at all. There have been sound- 

 ing lines run across it on a casual catch-as-catch-can basis primarily 

 by Xavy ships, and these are the basis of the Hydrographic Office 

 compilations of the somidings in the deep sea. 



Up until a year or so ago, at least, only about 2 percent of the 

 deep-sea area had been surveyed with any accuracy at all com- 

 parable to any maps on land. Part of this 2 percent was the area 

 off the west coast of the United States where the Coast Survey ship 

 Pioneer, using Navy funds and under the direction of the Navy, made 

 a survey of an area of about 100,000 square miles with sounding lines 

 5 miles apart. This is the closest grid we have anywhere in the deep 

 sea. 



I am sure that everyone concerned would say that the survey by the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey of this area off the west coast of North 

 America was conducted with the very highest standards of accuracy 

 and precision. It is a most satisfactory job. 



The purpose of this bill is to enable the Coast Survey to do a 

 job like this on the request of any head of a Government agency 

 and provide that the funds are appropriated directly by Congress. 

 This is a job which they have demonstrated that they are capable 

 of doing, which they are eager to do, and which, in the opinion of 

 both scientists and the fishing industry needs to be done. 



I think that the basic thing that could be said is that in this 

 field of surveys one never need fear the problem of duplication, nor 

 the problem of coordination. The coordination can be done very 

 easily and the duplication is virtually impossible because of the 

 extremely large area of the oceans that needs to be surveyed. If 

 you put every surveying agency of the United States on the job, 

 it would still take a long time to do it. 



The great thing about it is that, if the Coast Survey can be brought 

 into the act, systematic surveys of high quality can be planned on a 

 long-term basis, the ships and facilities can be built, and men can be 

 recruited to do this job at a level with the accuracy and precision that 

 is required. 



I am quite confident that the Hydrographic Office could do the job 

 provided that they had the support of the Congress for this specific 

 function, but the Congress does not really have a chance to support a 

 particular function of the Navy Department. The budget of the 

 Navy is so large and it passes through so many hands before it 

 reaches Congress that you have very little control of such a relatively 

 small operation in the Navy as the Hydrographic Officer, whereas you 

 have a very direct and easily carried out control of the activities of 

 the Coast Survey. 



I think that that is all I need to say by way of introduction, Mr. 

 Chairman. Perhaps we can continue this conversation by questions. 



