148 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



tional support be sought from private sources while the Federal spon- 

 sorship be mamtained essentially constant, the 1959 stud}^ emphasizes 

 growth in support almost exclusively from Federal funds; only a 

 passing reference is made to additional support from endowments and 

 other private sources. None of the projections in the NASCO studies 

 anticipates increases from any source but the Federal Government. 

 Neither, apparently, do studies by the Interagency Committee on 

 OceanograjDliy. 



The emerging role of the Federal Government in the sponsorship 

 of a national program in science and technology is generally aclviiowl- 

 edged. Furthermore, oceanography is not a field that has thus dis- 

 pla^^ed sufficient promise of direct "payoff" as to attract private risk 

 capital, however important it may be to the Nation collectively. In 

 the first instance, the fisheries that would most immediately benefit 

 are apparently not in a sufficiently prosperous or well-organized posi- 

 tion to foster more research. Secondly, other nonfishery gains appear 

 too remote. 



But are they really? Studies of substance are almost completely 

 lacking regarding either the promise for commercial exploitation of 

 the sea or the mechanism by which this could be fostered. Such a 

 study would go far to reveal profit potential as well as means by 

 which the Government, through incentive programs and seed capital, 

 could interest industry in undertaking more research on its own. 



The petroleum industry with its own funds has undertaken explora- 

 tion of the oft'shore resources of oil and natm^al gas. The costs of 

 such exploration and the development of wells have been found to 

 be marginal m the present market. But the need for eventually 

 pressing further offshore into deeper water and developing techniques 

 for developing new resources is a certainty in an era when reserves of 

 fossil fuels are being depleted. 



The Federal Government through various means has fostered such 

 exploration in the past, and special incentives such as might prove 

 attractive for adventures into deeper water could possibly stimulate a 

 great deal of then self-sustaining oftshore activity. Although beyond 

 the scope of the NASCO Committee assignment, such an analysis is 

 certainly within the province of one of the executive agencies having 

 jurisdiction in this area. 



In the meanwhile, the recommendations for funding are aimed at 

 Federal agencies. It should he especially noted, however, that although 

 the Navy has had a dominant role in the past, these 2>lans anticipate a 

 suijiciently fast growth of sponsorship in the civilian agencies that by 

 1970, they, not the Navy, will he taking the rnajor share of sponsorship. 



Finally, the oceanographers point out that Federal support is a 

 mixed blessing. Entii-ely apart from the degree to which Government 

 as a sponsor must and should control the technical content of research 

 programs, there is the ever-present threat of intermittent and unsteady 

 support. 



Assistant Secretary Wakelin noted that in the past 5 years, 

 during all of which the Navy had a prime responsil)ility in studies of 

 the sea in connection with the ASW program, funding has been increas- 

 ing, but not in a fashion that would give directors of independent 

 laboratories a feeling of security. In 1957, funding was $6 million. 

 In 1958, it dropped to $5.7 million. Since then it has increased 



