OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 23 



smooth, sea water would cover it to a depth of 12,000 feet. Truly, 

 the Earth is the "water planet" for no other planet retains its moisture 

 in liquid form. And it is this part of the planet that is largely unknown . 



Man's activities on the planet have always included exploration. 

 By restless curiosity alone, hut more likely in search of the miracle of 

 fabulous discovery, man has rather thoroughly unclothed the conti- 

 nents. To be sure, detail is scanty about certain parts, whether in 

 terms of topography, or more particularly subsurface mineral content, 

 but about the ocean floor, man knows ne.xt to nothing. The resources 

 of the ocean thus remain untapped. 



The need for these resources, whether mineral or biological for 

 Imman nourishment, is often considered a problem of the next gener- 

 ation—so that the urgency for immediate exploitation may super- 

 ficially appear marginal. But any statement of the economic "payoff" 

 of such research is academic since little is known of what is there in 

 the fu'st place. The order of priority would first call for charts of the 

 oceans in terms of theu- physical description of temperature, salinity, 

 the presence of currents, etc. ; then of the ocean floor m terms of topog- 

 raphy and mineral content; collaterally more knowledge is needed of 

 fish populations. Even without the urgency of a hunt for such mate- 

 rials today, it is argued that basic research and surveys will lay the 

 groundwork for such efforts of tomorrow, and it may well be in the 

 future self-interest of the United States that it be among the first and 

 not among the last to know what to expect. Alany legal problems 

 associated with the 3-, 6-, or 12-mile continental limits and with min- 

 eral claims on the bottom of the high seas remain unsettled. Also re- 

 maining are the potential of piracy and of means for protecting such 

 claims. Questions of national sovereignty raised by the appearance of 

 alien satellites overhead are at least being examined if not solved — and 

 there appears to be a trend to consider outer space a new medium that 

 is free of the national rivalries and competitions, tensions, and threats 

 that have characterized terrestrial holdings. "Freedom of the Seas" 

 has been a concept that has been relatively easy to enforce so that a 

 pm-ely philosophical and idealistic concept was consistent with prac- 

 tical reality. But in the day of "bottom crawlers," perhaps two com- 

 peting nations equally interested in mining a supply of manganese 

 nodules in 12,000 feet of water, 500 miles from the nearest land, will 

 come armed with the counterpart of weapons of the gold prospector. 

 The 1958 Geneva Convention on "Law of the Sea" set ground rules 

 for mineral rights that are yet untested. Being there first carries an 

 impact all its own. 



By itself, exploration is regarded by oceanographers only as a first 

 step; actually both exploration and research have been stressed. 

 Scientific research, it should be recalled, is the development of new 

 knowledge that can be fitted into the cumulative store of past obser- 

 vations so as to lead to a better understanding of the world around us. 

 While exploration may answer the questions of "what?", research 

 through application of the scientific methods permits generalization 

 into broader "laws of natm-e" that may answer c[uestions of "how?". 

 Understanding is the first step toward prediction of phenomena, and 

 ultimately toward control. 



For instance, the implications of science in regard to weather have 

 gained much recent publicity — ^the hope has frec^uently been expressed 

 that by further study, man may eventually control or at least modify 



