12 OCEANOGRAPHY 



I think that Admiral Karo will make his excuses. 



Mr. Allen is going to Panama next week and I have told him that 

 when he returns from Panama we shall be very happy to arrange a 

 meeting at his convenience so that we can hear from him. 



Thank you. 



Dr. Revelle. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, the 

 subject of this bill is one with which I have been closely concerned al- 

 most all my adult life and I do not appear as an advocate for any par- 

 ticular point of view. I am concerned, I think, with the interest of the 

 United States as the greatest maritime power and what I want to 

 argue for is the continued effectiveness of both the Hydrographic 

 Office of the Navy and the Coast Survey of the United States. 



It is my personal belief and also the belief of the members of the 

 Committee on Oceanography that Senate bill 2482 and its counter- 

 part in the House, H.R. 8611, will in fact strengthen both agencies. 



The Hydrographic Office, by its charter, has responsibility both for 

 fostering the civilian maritime interest of the United States and also 

 the interest of the Navy. 



The pressure of the needs of defense has been so great in the postwar 

 era that the Hydrographic Office has, of necessity, had to spend most 

 of its manpower and effort in the support of defense needs. 



In this work it has been assisted by the Coast Survey upon request 

 of the Secretary of the Navy and the Hydrographic Office has pro- 

 vided funds to the Coast Survey for carrying out certain survey work. 



This work has usually been of a rather crash nature; that is, it is 

 something which always had to be done as quickly as possible, and this 

 is only natural in view of the rapidly changing needs of defense. 



In the case of the longer term interests of the country, however, 

 systematic surveying on a broadly conceived and long range plan is a 

 far more satisfactory way to make charts, to find out what the shape 

 of the sea floor is like and what the magnetic and gravity topography 

 underneath the sea floor is like, than short range highly concentrated 

 efforts in which necessarily the overwhelming need is for doing things 

 in a hurry. 



Therefore, the work is often quite expensive and it is often directed 

 to just one objective or a limited number of objectives, and it is dif- 

 ficult to do the overall broad long-range job which will serve many 

 future purposes. 



The Committee on Oceanography has advocated, and I think every- 

 one is agreed in the Government, that we should expand our surveying 

 effort to cover not only the shallow water coastal areas of the world 

 but also the entire ocean. 



We have called this an oceanwide, ocean deep survey effort and the 

 necessity for this is basically a long range necessity. Part of the 

 necessity comes from the needs of the fishing industry of the United 

 States, the needs to expand our exploitation of the living resources of 

 the sea and, for example, tlie discovery of sea mounts off the Mexican 

 and Central American coasts many hundreds of miles from shore has 

 actually led to an increase in the tuna catch. The tuna, and fish in 

 general, tend to concentrate around high places in the sea floor even 

 though they are quite deep. 



