EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE OX OCEANOGRAPHY 197 



Committee on Oceanography. The development of this program has been in 

 response to the need for more information about the ocean, and the realization 

 that information could be collected from many ships not now doing so, such as 

 operational Navy fleet units, Military Sea Transportation ships, and fishing vessels. 



The program is being carried out jointly by the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office 

 and Biological Laboratories of our Bureau. 



A feasibility study of the procurement of oceanographic data from American 

 tuna clippers operating in the eastern tropical Pacific is presently being carried 

 out by the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office and scientists of the Bureau's Biological 

 Laboratory at San Diego. 



An outstanding example of cooperation in this program was participation by 

 Bureau scientists in Sol ant- Amity III , carried out by a group of five operational 

 Navy fleet units to west African waters, September 14 to December 18, 1961. 

 The Bureau is presently planning a major program of oceanography in the tropical 

 Atlantic, an area which is particularly lacking in oceanographic data. It was 

 from this special interest that Bureau scientists participated aboard vessels of 

 the force. 



Briefly, the program aboard the vessels was: 



1. Bathythermograph observation. A unique and valuable coverage was 

 obtained from a special series of six lines of bathythermograph stations in 

 the Gulf of Guinea. 



2. Surface trolling for tuna in the Gulf of Guinea was carried out, from 

 two vessels of the force, with a catch of 19 tuna and 10 fish of other species. 



3. 300 porpoises and fish schools were heard, recorded, and tracked by 

 sonar. 



4. Bathymetry. A seamount rising 6,000 feet from the floor of the Guinea 

 Abyssal Plain was discovered. 



5. A watch was maintained for sea birds and fish schools at the surface, 

 and the distribution of 735 sea birds was recorded in the Gulf of Guinea. 



We have, up to this point, handled the field operations of the ships of oppor- 

 tunity program on a specific problem basis, because the operational requirements 

 of vessels with primary missions other than oceanography require us to fit our 

 plans in with theirs. 



Insofar as the Solant and Amity III cruise was concerned, Bureau scientists 

 participated for the entire operation and a need to develop instructions for the 

 collection of oceanographic data of interest to the Bureau did not develop. How- 

 ever, for future cruises to areas of interest to the Bureau, it is planned to either 

 send Bureau scientists or such instructions as appropriate. As pointed out 

 earlier, it is difficult to provide a standard set of instructions since both the nature 

 of the cruises and the kinds of data desired are not standard ;«in fact certain kinds 

 of data such as those involving estimates of school sizes and fish species based on 

 evidence at the surface of the sea can only be reliably obtained by a trained and 

 experienced observer. 

 Sincerely yours, 



H. E. Crowther, 



Acting Director 

 (For Donald L. McKernan, Director). 



Dr. Stewart. All right. Just this past Monday, a planning session 

 for this tropical Atlantic investigation was held at the National 

 Oceanographic Data Center, with representatives from all of the 

 Government agencies concerned, and from several of the private 

 oceanographic institutions. These were Woods Hole, Narragansett 

 Marine Laboratory, Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory of Yale, 

 Department of Meteorology and Oceanography of New York Uni- 

 versity, Chesapeake Bay Institute, the Marine Laboratory of the 

 University of Miami, and the Department of Oceanographv at Texas 

 A. & M. 



These were excellent planning sessions for a cooperative investiga- 

 tion of the tropical Atlantic, and I will leave with you a copy of the 

 agenda of these meetings, also a copy of the plan for the investigation 

 of the tropical Atlantic. 



This is being carried out and coordinated through an ad hoc panel 

 of our Surveys Panel. 



