164 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



86th Congress TT T> QOfJI 



2d Session JJ-.XV. V0{J± 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



January 6, 1960 



Mr. Pelly introduced the following bill ; which was referred to the committee 

 on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 



A BILL 



To advance the marine sciences, to establish a comprehensive ten-year program 

 of oceanographic research and surveys ; to promote commerce and navigation 

 to secure the national defense ; to expand ocean resources ; to authorize the 

 construction of research and 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 enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 

 of America in Congress assembled, 



SHORT TITLE 



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

 of 1959." 



DECLARATION OF POLICY 



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

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

 nation of comprehensive data regarding the physics, biology, chemistry and 

 geology of the seas, and the education and effective fellowship program is 

 vital to defense against attack from the oceans and to the operation of our own 

 surface and sub-surface naval forces with maximum efficiency, to the rehabilita- 

 tion 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 oceanographic research, basic, 

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

 threaten our general welfare, maritime commerce, security, access to an utiliza- 

 tion of ocean fisheries, or the contamination of adjacent seas by the dumping 

 of radioactive wastes or other harmful agents. 



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

 ceding paragraphs of this Act there must be a coordinated, long-range program 

 of oceanographic research similar or identical to that recommended as a minimal 

 program by the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Sci- 

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



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

 veys, fisheries exploration and marine development ; 



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

 supplement the research and survey fleets ; 



3. development and acquisition of new and improved research tools, de- 

 vices, instruments, and techniques including but not limited to bathyscaphs 

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

 modified icebreakers, acoustical 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 underwater cameras ; 



4. recruitment of prospective oceanographers from among undergraduate 

 students of physics, chemistry, 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 Covernment ; 



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

 adequate information in the field of oceanography concerning the occurrence, 



