S4 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



What facilities do these marine biologists and microbiologists 

 probing the seas for new contributions to health need to pm-sue their 

 vital research? 



Dr. Ray answered this question in her testimony before your com- 

 mittee on S. 901. She said: 



To explore the medical aspects of oceanography means 

 that there must be permanently established marine labora- 

 tories, located near the ocean shore, equipped with con- 

 tinuously operating sea water systems that deliver adequate 

 supplies of fresh, unpolluted sea water on a year-round basis. 



For medical investigations, the marine laboratory must 

 also have modern research equipment. The number of such 

 marine stations, compared with the total number of labora- 

 tories in which medical research with terrestrial organisms 

 can be carried out is small indeed. 



Great laboratories are built to investigate questions of 

 h(nilth and disease, and these medical research centers are 

 vitally important, but most of them are far fi'om the sea and 

 none have provision for exploiting the rich reservoir of 

 experimental organisms that live in the marine environment. 



If we look to the open ocean where important medically 

 oriented experiments could be carried out on shipboard, we 

 find that only now are research vessels in the United States 

 being planned to provide adequate research biological 

 laboratories. 



Without these facilities, on shore and afloat, in which 

 carefully controlled modern research can be carried out, 

 progress in the medical aspects of oceanography will be very 

 slow. 



From far off Hawaii, our 50th State, and only State completely 

 surrounded by ocean, Dr. Philip Helfrick, Acting Director of the 

 Marine Laboratory at Honolulu, wi'Ote the committee as follows: 



In the past, research relating to the discovery and deter- 

 mination of medically and pharmacologically important 

 substances from marine organisms has been restricted by 

 limitation of funds, facilities, and to some extent by the 

 availability of trained personnel. 



Senate bill 901, as proposed, particularly sections 9 and 

 10, would greatly encourage and facilitate such research. 



Dr. Burkholder, previously mentioned in this report, wrote the 

 committee in a similar vein. He said : 



The real significance of marine biology to mankind in the 

 future will only become known through fundamental studies 

 of all kinds of sea life, their kinds, their functions, and their 

 products. 



It is believed that S. 901 will provide the means for train- 

 ing toclniical persoimel ajid cariying on effect ivo researclies in 

 marine biology and in other phases of oceanology that will 

 be important in the future. 



