ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 3 



S. 901 is a resources bill, a defense bill, a health measure, an educa- 

 tion and training bill, and a science bill, titled the "Marine Sciences 

 and Research Act of 1961." 



The bill is offered in the national interest and, as one distinguished 

 scientist testified at hearings on it before your Committee: "The 

 Nation's interest is as boundless as the sea itself." 



The report follo^\dng will detail the objectives and magnitude of 

 the program, the requirements to achieve these objectives, the au- 

 thorizations proposed to meet these requirements, and the agencies, 

 oJ05ces, services, and institutions which would carry out the program 

 to the Nation's benefit. 



MARINE SCIENCE— THE NEGLECTED FRONTIER 



The basic purpose of S. 901 is to increase our knowledge of the 

 world ocean and the Great Lakes, the life within them, and the 

 dynamic forces wliich stir and move them. 



Waters of the ocean or of the Great Lakes border 31 of our 50 

 States, and affect the Nation's vitality, welfare, and security. 



The world ocean is the dominant physical feature of this planet 

 and within the solar system is unique to this planet. 



The Great Lakes form the largest body of fresh water in the world 

 and no other continent has a similar inland waterway system. 



Scientific or systematized knowledge of the ocean and the Great 

 Lakes is limited and to a large extent superficial. To oceanographers 

 and limnologists both represent a neglected frontier. 



One reason for this neglect is that man, vrhose habitat is terra fu-ma, 

 has concentrated his scientific attention on his immediate en\-ironment 

 and the space above it which he can vision. 



A second reason is that the world ocean, and to a lesser extent the 

 Great Lakes, have confronted man with an area or field of overwhelm- 

 ing and, until very recent years, impossible magnitude. 



A corollary reason is that human vision does not penetrate more 

 than 300 feet below the surface of deep waters, and, until the develop- 

 ment of electronics and certain teclmological advances, man could 

 only grope in the depths Avith primitive equipment "like a blind man 

 making a butterfly collection," as one oceanographer. Dr. Athelstan 

 Spilhaus, puts it. 



Today science has revealed enough about the ocean and its relation 

 to life to know that further knowledge is imperative if civilization is to 

 continue to exist and progress. 



The task is enormous in scope and complexity. The ocean is 

 earth's largest laboratory. The Great Lakes are earth's largest fresh 

 water laboratory. To probe them wi]l require the talents of scientists 

 trained in many disciplines — marine biologists, geophysicists, chem- 

 ists, geologists, meteorologists, climatologists, and others. 



The magnitude of the task is such that many more scientists must 

 be trained in these specialized fields, ships for research and sm-veys 

 must be constructed, shore facilities must be constructed, new instru- 

 ments must be developed and provided, research and findings nmst be 

 coordinated and accomplishments evaluated. 



To achieve this will require a national effort and program. No 

 single agency of our Government can do it. No State or institution 

 alone can do it. 



MBL/WHOI 



