26 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



Research that has immediate and demonstrable application appears easier to 

 advocate successfully than does research that promises general gains at some 

 undetermined time in the future. Yet we know there must be a foundation of 

 basic scientific knowledge before we can anticipate effective application. 



Why must the Federal Government invest in science? 



One reason is that we are living in a scientific age. Our security, health, welfare, 

 economy — perhaps our very survival as a free nation- — depends on keeping abreast 

 in science with the other great powers. 



A second reason is that national benefits accrue from expanded scientific re- 

 search far outweighing the costs, and where there is a national benefit I feel 

 there is a national duty to support such research. 



A third reason is that scientific research in many fields is today too costly for 

 most private or State institutions and laboratories to undertake to the extent 

 the demands and tensions of these times require without the assistance of the 

 Federal Government. 



Government grants to these laboratories and institutions assure that the 

 required research will be done where effective results can best be accomplished. 



* * * In my opinion our lag in marine research can be as fatal to our welfare 

 and security as failure to match Russia in space research and development. 



When the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences was set up I rather 

 hoped that it would consider the scientific problems of inner space — represented 

 by the oceans and the earth beneath them — as well as those of outer space, and 

 I regret that it has not done so. 



Sonar and related systems will enable submarine officers to hear better and in 

 effect to see farther than their counterparts on surface vessels. Cavitation is 

 reduced in undersea operation and some marine scientists dream of a day when 

 it may be eliminated entirely, as nature has done with the dolphin. 



Commercial undersea navigation will require all the scientific knowledge and 

 aids that naval undersea craft need today. The Russians are making aggressive 

 efforts to supply this knowledge to their own subsurface mariners. One of their 

 objectives is, of course, year-round navigation of the Northern Sea route. 



Russia has another important objective for ocean research, to increase her deep 

 sea fisheries catch. Russians, with their cold climate, have an urgent need for 

 high protein foods, and her meat supply is deficient and probably will remain so. 

 To offset this deficiency Russia has turned to the sea. 



Today Russia is operating the largest and most efficient fishing vessels afloat. 

 Some of her huge floating combines, as they are called, will take as many fish in 

 one trawl as our ships will catch in a month. Russia is operating fishing fleets 

 off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and along the coast of Alaska, and has 

 fisheries also in the Central Pacific, the mid- Atlantic, and along the African coast. 



Russia's fisheries research fleet is the finest and largest in history and includes 

 at least one submarine. All of her major fishing vessels carry the latest scientific 

 eciuipment for locating rich fisheries and scientists to operate this equipment, so 

 these ships supplement her research fleets. 



Our own fisheries are dwindling; our fisheries research is degressing, and our 

 fisheries catch is dropping every year. Our research fleet, always small and always 

 limited to coastal waters, has declined in quality and numbers, and the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries cannot even operate all the ships it has because of lack 

 of funds. 



Wliat are we doing about the Russian challenge, or complex of challenges, for 

 n\astery of the oceans? 



* * * Menibers of the Committee on Interstate and P'oreign Commerce studied 

 tliese reports and were intrigued with them. On June 22 I introduced a Senate 

 resolution endorsing these reports and recommending that the basic recommenda- 

 tions be adopted. All members of the Senate Commerce Committee joined in 

 cosponsoring this resolution, including the junior Senator from Pennsylvania. 

 It was cosponsored also by my colleague, Senator Jackson of Washington, a member 

 of the Armed Services Committee and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. 

 The resolution was reported unanimously to the Senate by the committee on 

 Julv 13, and on July 15 the Senate adopted it without a single dissenting voice. 



'this resolution outlined what should be done, but did not provide legislative 

 authorization or direction. For that reason it was necessary to draft a bill which 

 was done with the advice and counsel of oceanography committee representatives. 



This bill, cosponsored by myself and 1 3 other Senators, including both Senators 

 from Pennsylvania, was introduced on the final day of the 1959 session in order 



