A OCEANOGRAPHY 



tThe bills follow:) 



[H.R. 9361, 86th Cong., 2d sess.] 



A BILL To advance the marine sciences, to establish a comprehensive 10-year program of 

 oceanographie research and surveys ; to promote commerce and navigation, to secure the 

 national defense : to expand ocean resources ; to authorize the construction of research 

 land survey ships and facilities ; to assure systematic studies of effects of radioactive 

 materials in marine environments ; to enhance the general welfare ; and for other 

 purposes 



Be it efiacted iy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Htates 

 of America in Conyress assetnbled, 



SHORT TITLE 



Section 1. This Act may be cited as the ''Marine Sciences and Research Act 

 of 1!>59". 



declaration of poliqt 



Sec 2. The Confess hereby declares that systematic, scientific studies and 

 surveys of the oceans and ocean floor, the collection, preparation and dissemina- 

 tion of comprehensive data regarding the physics, biology, chemistry and geology 

 of the seas, and the education and training of oceanographie scientists through 

 a sustained and effective fellowshop program is vital to defense against attack 

 from the oceans and to the operation of our own surface and subsurface naval 

 forces with maximum efficiency, to the rehabilitation of our commercial fisheries 

 and utilization of other ocean resources, to the expansion of commerce and 

 navigation, and to the development of scientific knowledge since many problems 

 require an understanding of the waters which cover 71 per centum of the 

 earth's surface, life within these waters, and the interchange of energy and 

 matter between the sea and atmosphere. 



The Congress further declares that sound national policy requires that the 

 United States not be excelled in the fields of oceanographie research, basic, 

 military or applied, by any nation which may presently or in the future threaten 

 our general welfare, maritime commerce, security, access to and utilization of 

 ocean fisheries, or the contamination of adjacent seas by the dumping of radio- 

 active wastes or other harmful agents. 



The Congress further declares that to meet the objectives outlined in the 

 preceding paragraphs of this Act there must be a coordinated, long-range pro- 

 gram of oceanographie research similar or identical to that recommended as a 

 minimal program by the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy 

 of Sciences-National Research Council which requires but is not limited to the — 



1. construction of modem, oceangoing ships for scientific research, sur- 

 veys, fisheries exporation and marine development ; 



2. construction of laboratory and shore facilities adequate to service and 

 supplement the research and survey fleets ; 



3. develoi)ment and acquisition of new and improved research tools, de- 

 vices, instruments, and techniques including l)ut not limited to bathyscaphs 

 and other manned submersibles, manned and unmanned deep ocean buoys, 

 modified icebreakers, accoustical equipment and telemetering devices, cur- 

 rent meters, direct density, turbulence and radioactivity measuring devices, 

 biological sampling instruments, precision salinometers and echo sounders, 

 magnetometers, and deep sea undei-^-ater cameras ; 



4. recruitment of i)rospective oceanographers from among undergraduate 

 students of physics, chemisti-y, biology and geology and the facilitating of 

 their advanced education in the marine sciences by a long-term fellowship 

 program, where necessary, supported by or through the National Science 

 Foundation or other appropriate agency of the Federal Government ; 



5. improvement of the economic and general welfare by obtaining more 

 adequate information in the field of oceanography concerning the occur- 

 rence, behavior, and potential use of fish, shellfish, and other marine life, and 

 thereby to enhance the development and utilization of living marine 

 resources ; 



6. establishment of a national oceanographie records center to assemble, 

 prepare and disseminate all scientific and technical oceanographie and 

 closely related data, including but not linuted to physical, biological, fish- 

 eries, hydrographic and coastal survey, meteorological and climatological 

 data. AH ncmclassified data shall be made available for public use ; and 



