EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 55 



we expect to hold a symposium in which industry members and marine biologists 

 will discuss instrument development programs. 



Mr. Chairman, if our future plans are successfully carried out, we will have a 

 good exchange of information between Government agencies, private institutions, 

 and working scientists at all levels. Duplication of effort should be avoided and 

 mutual sharing of results should enhance the varied programs which now consti- 

 tute the national effort in oceanography. The work of this panel should result in 

 better instruments and proper facilities for oceanography in the United States. 



Mr. McKernan. This particular panel, Air. Chairman, is one of 

 the newer ones on the Interagency Committee. 



It was organized in January of 1961 to insure coordination between 

 Government agencies, private oceanographic institutions, and in- 

 dustry in the development of instruments and instrument procurement. 



The principal objective of this committee came from a feeling of the 

 Interagency Committee on Oceanography that there should be some 

 impetus put into instrumentation development, instrumentation 

 research, and to acquiring instrument systems for new vessels which 

 are being constructed in various departments of Government for the 

 national oceanographic program. 



As you may have noted from my introductions, we have people 

 represented on this committee from practically all of the operating 

 departments of Government, men who are specialists in this particular 

 field, and we have been working very closely with a special committee 

 of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Oceanography. 

 The people on this committee from outside of Government, mostly 

 from educational institutions, are internationally known specialists in 

 the field of instrumentation. 



During the past year, we have held a series of meetings, developing 

 the 1963 instrumentation and facilities program, which has been 

 submitted to the Interagency Committee on Oceanography. 



Mr. Chairman, I was a very interested listener yesterday in your 

 discussions, and my real purpose here this morning would be to give 

 the committee an idea of how the Interagency Committee on Ocea- 

 nography does coordinate oceanographic efforts. 



This is in a sense the story of one panel which has been set up under 

 the Interagency Committee on Oceanography, but I believe it is a 

 typical and excellent example of coordination which has occurred 

 through this Committee on Oceanography. 



We have held some 17 meetings over the past year of this particular 

 panel, and we have discussed each other's problems in oceanography 

 and our programs, with special attention being given to the kinds and 

 types and systems of instruments which would contribute to the na- 

 tional effort. I believe that there have been a number of accomplish- 

 ments. 



I wouldn't say that they were anything to get on the rooftops and 

 holler about, but, on the other hand, they are rather solid accomplish- 

 ments in the way of coordinating our effort in getting more for our 

 dollar and leading the way toward the development of better instru- 

 ments in oceanography for all disciplines, biological, physical, and 

 chemical. 



In the first place, soon after our Committee got started, we felt 

 that we ought to bring in industry, because we thought that there 

 was a tremendous amount of engineering and technical skill in various 

 instrument companies. 



