32 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION 



Many witnesses at our hearings, and many of those who have 

 written to your Committee with regard to S. 901, discussed the need 

 or the value of this proposed legislation. 



Dr. Virginia Withington, supervisor, ASW-USW research, Sikorsky 

 Aircraft, Stratford, Conn., wrote the committee as follows: 



Those of us who are attempting to develop effective 

 undersea equipment have been drastically hampered by lack 

 of knowledge of the environment * * *. This lack of basic in- 

 formation is seriously detrimental to our national defense, and 

 is dela\ang the realization of accomplishments which would 

 be technologically feasible if environmental factors were 

 more precisely known. 



For an industry whose primary competence lies in other 

 areas to attempt independent investigations of undersea 

 conditions would be inefficient and unnecessarily costly. It 

 is probable that the climate of broad interests and activit}" 

 which will l)e engendered by S. 901 will encourage cooperative 

 endeavors leading to the iDerformance of ''applied" research 

 simidtaneously with the basic investigations authorized 

 therein. 



From many points of view, passage of S. 901 will benefit the 

 Nation and, by the implementation of a training program 

 and stimulating interest on many fronts, we can expect a 

 cumulative accomplishment vvhich Avill place the United 

 States in the forefront of a most interesting and important 

 field of knowledge. 



Dr. Wayne V. Burt, chairman of the Department of Oceanography, 

 Oregon State College, wrote: 



Now the oceanography discipline finds itself ^^'ith a good 

 strong program in its inception, but with a need for more 

 tools with which to work. Your bill (S. 901) would ade- 

 quately furnish support for those tools (ships, laboratories, 

 instruments, and operating funds). 



Dr. Harry Sobotka, director, Department of Chemistry, Mount 

 Sinai Hospital, New York, wrote: 



Construction and provision of substantially enlarged 

 facilities for marine science and research constitutes a vital 

 and urgent need for national security and tiie vital issues of 

 food supply and public health. Evidently, these needs can 

 no longer be met to a satisfactory extent from private sources 

 and require congressional appropriations beyontl existing in- 

 cidental support by the Office of Naval Research, National 

 Science Foundation, etc. 



Senate bill 901 adequately fills this gap in vrell organized 

 form. I strongly urge its passage by Congress. 



Dr. Paul M. Fye, Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution, advised the committee: 



The report of the National Academy of Sciences and the 

 Navy's TENCC plans, together with Senate Resolution 130 



