68 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



geology and meteorology. At the present time our research staff has a com- 

 position as follows: Biologists, 29; Chemists, 13; Mathematicians, 7; Physicists, 

 19; Engineers, 26; Geologists, 14; Oceanographers, 16; Meteorologists, 10." From 

 1930 to 1958, 197 graduate students tellowships were granted, plus 123 post- 

 doctoral and foreign fellowships. * * * 



The original investment in shore facilities of $325,000 in 1930 was increased 

 by $800,000 by the U.S. Navy in 1954. Scientific equipment valued at over one 

 half million dollars is currently in use. * * * The composition of the WHOI 

 fleet includes 4 deep sea vessels totalling 2940 tons. * * * « 



This Institution was founded on the concept that science should be largely 

 funded by private means and was provided with a private endowment of $2 

 million in addition to money for the land, the laboratory and the research vessel 

 Atlantis. Today the market value of our endowment is estimated at 5 million 

 dollars and there have been no substantial gifts for endowment since the first 

 year. * * * Today, about 90 percent of our annual budget is obtained from 

 Federal funds. * * * The budget for 1959 is shown in Table 5. 



Flavor of some of the problems in operating oceanographic research 

 laboratories has been brought out in the NASCO reports, particularly 

 Chapter 12, concerned with marine sciences in the United States: *^ 



Among the university-sponsored organizations, only the large ones have been 

 able to maintain an extensive blue water operation and large departments in 

 specialized categories such as physical oceanography and geochemistry. In order 

 to support their large ships and technical staffs, most of these laboratories have 

 found it necessary from time to time to conduct relativel,y large applied programs 

 for the Government. In some cases such work has necessitated sacrificing more 

 basic research projects. In others, the stimulation provided by applied problems 

 has been helpful. However, laboratories should not have to undertake large 

 applied projects primaril}^ as a means of solving financial problems. 



Each laboratory has its own particular problems, but some general patterns are 

 discernible. The large laboratories with heavy Federal support need financial 

 stability and predictability to rescue them from their present hand-to-mouth 

 existence on short-term contracts. The insecurity of this existence is a constant 

 worry to administration and staff alike; it interferes with long-range planning; and 

 it sometimes results in taking on routine survey tasks that are not the proper work 

 of a research organization and contribute little to the laboratory except as a 

 financial stopgap. They desperately need ship replacements and additional shore 

 facilities. They need the kind of institutional support that will permit them to 

 maintain their salary scale at the current market value and provide reasonable 

 stability to their operations. 



The small laboratories also need ship and shore facilities but generally not so 

 desperately. Often their chief material need is for modern scientific equipment. 

 * * * However, their most pressing need is for growth and diversification of 

 their staffs. The small laboratories consist almost exclusively of biologists and 

 biological oceanographers. * * * The small laboratory has to grow in order to 

 solve its problems effectively, and having done so, it finds a whole new set of 

 problems waiting for it. 



" Further details are g'iven of these ships in Table 8. 

 " NASCO Eeport, Chapter 12, op. cit., pp. 5-6. 



