EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 67 



rectly, I believe they decided to try and cany those out together. 

 This is still under study at the present time. 



Mr. Pelly. If he will yield to me at that point, I talked to the 

 group about the university there, and they seemed to feel it highly 

 desirable to have their own docking facilities for oceanographic vessels 

 and I would certainly hope that that would be carefully reviewed, 

 because I think that it is the oceanography department of the uni- 

 versity that certainly is conscious of what their particular problems 

 are. 



Mr. McKernan. Well, I am probably stepping out of my role a 

 little bit here, because I believe Dr. Maxwell who was there can be 

 more specific. On the other hand, I am also trying to be responsive. 



I think that there is still under study joint facilities between Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey and ourselves which might be done efficiently at 

 some savings also. 



Mr. Bauer. Now, with respect to instrumentation, you mentioned 

 biological instrumentation. Would you tell the committee which 

 department of the Government has taken the lead in biological 

 instrumentation development? 



Mr. McKernan. Well, I believe that since we have begun 

 thoroughly considering this matter within the ICO, that the Depart- 

 ment of Interior has taken the lead, but I certainly would want to 

 hasten to give due credit to the National Science Foundation, who 

 have also considered this to be important, and I know are giving 

 careful consideration to any applications for grants and for funds to 

 carry out biological instrumentation needs. 



They participate ver}^ actively in our own committee, and in the 

 panel of which I am Chairman, so that I believe both of these particular 

 agencies are giving good consideration to this, and then, of course, 

 there is the biological group at ONR, under the very able Dr. Sid 

 Galler, who is concerned with this matter also. 



Mr. Bauer. Well, isn't it historically true that ONR have taken 

 the lead in the development of biological instrumentation for many 

 years? 



Mr. McKernan. No; I think that this is a matter of opinion, and I 

 would not feel I could necessarily agree with this, although I wouldn't 

 want to take anything away from ONR for the very excellent work 

 they have done in various fields. 



I believe our own Bureau in the last few years has made some 

 major contributions in this regard. 



Mr. Bauer. Now, with respect to buoys, I understand that the 

 Bureau of Aeronautics in 1949 initiated the program to develop the 

 methods of anchoring telemetering radio buoys, and have carried on 

 extensive work, and as a matter of fact, have had buoys operating in 

 deep water for many years. Is that correct? 



Mr. McKernan. I am not aware that they had moored buoys, 

 because we are still having trouble in the moorings. Can I call on 

 Mr. Jaffe to expand on that? 



Mr. Jaffe? 



Mr. Jaffe. Yes; I think that there are moored buoys which are 

 available for oceanography. As you probably know, the most 

 critical problem in the buoy situation is that of telemetering the 

 information over long distances, so while there are a number of 

 prototype buoys that have been developed, the real crux of the 



