20 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



The Coast Guard operates 347 ships, some of them larger than any 

 American research or survey vessel. Many of these ships are assigned 

 to distant ocean stations. 



But despite the Coast Guard's capabilities, archaic statutes prevent 

 it from conducting oceanographic research or Great Lakes research 

 except in connection with one activity, the international ice patrol. 



In other words the Coast Guard has been denied the privilege of 

 acquiring broad scientific knowledge of the environment it works in 

 and with. 



The Coast Guard considers this unreaHstic. So does the President 

 of the United States. 



In his letter with reference to the marine sciences to Vice President 

 Johnson on March 29, 1961, President Kennedy stated: 



At present, the Coast Guard enabling legislation limits the 

 extent to which the Coast Guard can engage in scientific 

 research. Only the international ice patrol is authorized to 

 make such studies. I recommend that the statutory limita- 

 tions restricting the participation by the Coast Guard in 

 oceanographic research be removed. With ocean weather 

 stations, deep sea thermometers, and other data collection 

 devices, our Coast Guard can make a valuable contribution 

 to the oceanographic program. 



S. 901 would remove statutory restrictions on Coast Guard partici- 

 pation in the national oceanogranhic and Great Lakes research 

 effort. 



S. 901 would authorize funds for equipping Coast Guard station 

 vessels and offshore towers with instruments for scientific research, 

 the collection, transmission and analysis of scientific data, and for 

 training officers and personnel in oceanography. 



The sections of S. 901 applicable to the Coast Guard follow recom- 

 mendations of the Committee on Oceanography of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, which stated in part: 



The Committee on Oceanography believes that the U.S. 

 Coast Guard should have authority and should be encouraged 

 to conduct basic and applied oceanographic research, to in- 

 stall, maintain and use standard oceanographic equipment, 

 to collect and analyze oceanographic data, and (in coopera- 

 tion with other agencies) to engage in special studies and 

 programs in oceanograph}^. 



The Coast Guard operates a series of lighthouses, lightships 

 and ocean stations. Each is a valuable platform for the 

 observation, collection of data and study of oceanographic 

 phenomenon. The ocean stations and lightships (future 

 light towers), because they provide for the possibility of 

 obtaining long time series of oceanographic data from a single 

 location, are of unique importance to the further development 

 of oceanographic understanding. 



Earlier the Eastern Pacific Oceanic Conference, in which scientists 

 from the five Pacific States, Canada, and several Latin-American 

 nations on the western slope participated, conducted an extensive 

 study of research possibilities on ocean weather ships, benefits to be 

 obtained, and costs of instrumentation and personnel for such research. 



