24 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 



permit an assessment of the magnitude of the living resources. They also -will 

 provide the basic biological information — the distribution of fish eggs and larvae, 

 and of fish food, for example — which are essential to the eventual understanding 

 of fluctuations in the abundance and availability of commerical fish. 



Since the war great advances have been made in the techniques for measuring 

 primary production of organic matter. The widespread, systematic use of these 

 methods by the ships of the expedition will help us to assay, for the first time, the 

 fertility of the Indian Ocean. 



Marine geology and geophysics. — Except for data collected during the IGY, 

 bottom topography and the crustal structure underlying the Indian Ocean are 

 barely known. Old soundings delineate major structural components comparable 

 to those of the Pacific and the Atlantic: trenches, undersea mountain ranges, a 

 midocean swell, and possibly fracture zones. The arrangement of these compo- 

 nents and their relationship to the structures of the bordering continents are 

 markedly different in the Pacific and Atlantic. Is the Indian Ocean a Pacific- or 

 an Atlantic-type ocean? Precise modern soundings, in addition to clarifying 

 this issue, will be of immediate use in providing a base map for all the other studies 

 and data necessary for navigational charts, and it is even possible that they may 

 uncover rich shallow-water fisheries at considerable distances from shore. In- 

 tegrated geophysical studies — of the areal pattern of heat flowing from beneath 

 the crust, the gravity field, the crustal thickness, and magnetic characteristics of 

 oceanic and border areas — will certainly furnish basic information for the problems 

 of ocean and continent development. 



Intensive coring, dredging, and bottom photography will yield data on pro- 

 cesses of sedimentation, productivity, climatic, and magnetic changes during the 

 last several millions of years and the distribution of potential ores of manganese, 

 nickel, and cobalt in manganese nodules. 



PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS 



The proposed research will provide fundamental and valuable scientific knowl- 

 edge. Some findings will have direct and immediate bearing on economic de- 

 velopment and human welfare. Location of shoals and regions of upwelling will 

 identify likely fishing areas. Studies of distribution, nature, and seasonal varia- 

 tion in nutrients and marine organisms will indicate what to fish for and when. 

 Preliminary quantitative estimates of fish population, when supplemented by 

 exploratory fishing, will suggest the magnitude of the fishery resource. 



The data obtained will provide an essential part of the information on which 

 decisions can ultimately be reached on the nature of fishery operations, markets 

 and methods of marketing, extent of investment, and related development prob- 

 lems. A new source of protein could mean food for hungry people. If it came 

 from the ocean, land and other capital devoted to protein food raising could be 

 shifted to other uses. Marine organisms could also provide fertilizer and animal 

 feed in areas now lacking adequate supplies. 



Meteorological information, related to oceanographic knowledge, will be ob- 

 tained on a synoptic basis. This may lead to better long-range weather forecast- 

 ing. The ability to predict the onset of the monsoon and to estimate variations 

 in the quantity of rainfall bears directly on flood control and on water regimen for 

 agricultural use. The understanding of variations in location and intensity of 

 ocean currents can lead to more economic routing of ships. Such knowledge ap- 

 plied in the North Atlantic has resulted in savings of as much as 10 percent in 

 fuel consumption. 



Charting and sampling the ocean floor through soundings, cores, geophysical 

 measures, dredging, and photography provide information useful for navigation 

 and fisheries and may reveal resources of economic value. 



Finally, as never before, intensive training and experience in oceanographic re- 

 search will be available to residents of a maritime area. Possibly 20 vessels, with 

 facilities for about 350 scientists, will operate on the expedition. Exchange of 

 scientists between ships and partial cruises by individuals will increase the num- 

 ber of training billets available and vary their experience. Data processing 

 centers and biological classification laboratories will serve as nuclei for post- 

 expedition scientific development around the Indian Ocean. 



In other parts of the world, the focus over several yars on the International 

 Indian Ocean Expedition would serve as a device to attract students to the field 

 of oceanography, helping to relieve a world shortage of marine scientists. 



