XIV. Committee Conclusions and Recommendations ^ 



The committee endorses the foregoing study for its completeness, 

 and care of preparation, and for its attempt to provide objective 

 analysis including the identification of major issues, together with the 

 arguments pro and con of principal groups in and out of Government 

 concerned with our progress in the ocean sciences. The study has 

 had the benefit of careful independent review by several speciahsts. 



Because the committee's hearings on this subject have been rela- 

 tively brief, in contrast with this study which is one of the most 

 comprehensive ever prepared, the conclusions of the committee are 

 necessarily qualified for the present, when it comes to certain specifics 

 which seem to flow from this report. 



The numbered conclusions given below are stated in positive terms 

 where they represent the consensus of virtually all reviewers of these 

 problems in and out of Government. In other cases where the con- 

 clusions or recommendations may also be valid, and there is strong 

 but not unanimous support among all scientists, military authorities, 

 and Government officials, the conclusions have been worded to show 

 such qualification, or they recommend further study by the appro- 

 priate authorities in the legislative and executive branches of Govern- 

 ment, the scientific community, and other interested persons. 



Accordingly, the conclusions and recommendations of the committee 

 are as follows: 



1. The sea, which has historically served the United States both as 

 a geographical barrier against aggression and as a medium of com- 

 merce, has become increasingly important in terms of political, 

 economic, and scientific factors as an element of national security. 



2. Yet the sea. which represents 71 percent of the Earth's surface, 

 is mostly unexplored. Scientific information is meager concerning 

 the physical and chemical properties of oceans and their currents, the 

 biological and mineral resources of, in and under the sea, the relation- 

 sliip of the oceans to weather and climate. Even knowledge about the 

 origins of tlie oceans themselves, their evolution and the changes 

 which may be expected are little known and understood. 



3. Biological resources in the sea may supplement protein for 

 human nourishment in a burgeoning growth of population. Mineral 

 resources may answer future teclmological demand when resources on 

 the continents may be depleted or economically unfeasible to extract. 

 Understanding of the Moon, of outer space and of extra-terrestrial 

 phenomena far more remote from human endeavors presupposes 

 knowledge of our own planet, yet this is not the case, and clues to 

 geological and geophysical processes may well be found by studies 

 in and under the sea. Safety of radioactive waste disposal presup- 

 poses knowledge of ocean currents and biological aetivity. 



4. That the sea is opaque to light and other electromagnetic radia- 

 tion so as to conceal its contents manifestly describes the core of Soviet 

 submarine threat to continental United States. Tlie oceans may hide 



