EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 195 



Science's Committee on Oceanography for their comments, and I will 

 leave a copy of this with you, Mr. Chairman. 



Incidentally, this program, entitled "Proposed U.S. National 

 Program for Oceanwide Systematic Investigations" is, I believe, a 

 present-day counterpart of the 1899 Akerman-Pettersson report of 

 the ICES that Mr. Bauer had put into the record a few days ago. 



This is, in fact, a U.S. program for a comparable type operation. 



Your committee, Mr. Chairman, has heard over the past few years 

 a great deal of testimony on this Nation's need for more knowledge 

 of the seas. 



There is one point, however, that I would like to reemphasize in 

 connection with our need for U.S. oceanwide survey program. We 

 must have maps of the ocean. By this, I don't mean only navigational 

 charts, although we need these too, but I mean good maps of the shape 

 of the sea floor, of its gravitational and magnetic characteristics, of 

 the distribution of its bottom sediments, of the currents, both surface 

 and subsurface, of the temperature, and its variation, and so on. 



Before any land area can be developed and exploited, base maps 

 are necessary. The same is true of the oceans, yet while on one hand, 

 we say that the United States must exploit the seas for our general 

 welfare, even for our very survival, on the other hand, we are forced 

 to say that our maps of the sea are not as good as were those of North 

 America at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. 



This, Mr. Chairman, is indeed a singularly deplorable situation, 

 and it is toward the remedying of this situation that the Ocean Sur- 

 veys Panel has developed this plan for oceanwide surveys. 



We must have the data to work with. An oceanographer cannot 

 sit down at an empty desk and say, "Today I will do research in 

 oceanography." He must have the data. 



In these oceanwide surveys will come the basic facts, the data on 

 which this country can base a strong and productive oceanographic 

 research effort. 



The oceanwide survey will point up special areas and problems 

 toward which the research effort can be directed. Toward this end, 

 the Ocean Survey Advisory Panel has, in addition to developing the 

 survey program, also been working on a set of general instructions 

 for the conduct of oceanwide surveys. I have brought with me and 

 will leave with you for inclusion in the record a preliminary draft of 

 these instructions as they have been developed by this particular 

 panel. These are instructions for carrying out these oceanwide 

 surveys. 



Mr. Dingell. Doctor, would you leave them with us for Mr. 

 Bauer and the committee staff to scrutinize? I know they are rather 

 voluminous, and although we are anxious to have a complete record, 

 we don't want to get it too big. 



Dr. Stewart. Yes, I shall be glad to leave all of these in that 

 particular category, Mr. Chairman, and } t ou can decide for yourselves 

 which you wish to include in the record. 



To move along. The Panel is now currently working on a manual, 

 which will be an interagency manual for use in conducting oceanwide 

 surveys. 



This idea of a concerted effort to learn more about the world ocean 

 is not limited to a few members of the Federal Government. It was 

 most recently pushed forward in this country by the NASCO report, 



