ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 85 



Page 56, line 23, following the word "constructed" insert the words 

 "or modernized". The purpose of this amendment, like that of the 

 amendment above, is to assure that domestic commercial facilities 

 be used in carrying out provisions of this act relatmg to authorization 

 of research or survey ships. 



AGENCY REPORTS 



The reports of the agencies follow\- 



The White House, 

 Washington, March 29, 1961. 



My Dear Mr. President: The seas around us, as I pointed out 

 in my message to the Congress on February 23, represent one of our 

 most important resources. If vigorously developed, this resource can 

 be a source of great benefit to the Nation and to all mankind. 



But it will require concerted action, purposefully directed, with 

 vision and ingenuity. It will require the combined efforts of our 

 scientists and institutions, both public and private, and the coordi- 

 nated efforts of many Federal agencies. It \n\\ involve substantial 

 investments in the early years for the construction and operation of 

 ship and shore facilities for research and surveys, the development of 

 of new^ instruments for charting the seas and gathering data, and the 

 training of new scientific manpower. 



We are just at the threshold of our knowledge of the oceans. 

 Already their military importance, their potential use for weather 

 predictions, for food and for minerals are evident. Further research 

 will undoubtedly disclose additional uses. 



Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our 

 very survival may hinge upon it. Although understanding of our 

 marine environment and maps of the ocean floor would afford to our 

 military forces a demonstrable advantage, we have thus far neglected 

 oceanography. We do not have adequate charts of more than 1 or 

 2 percent of the oceans. 



The seas also offer a wealth of nutritional resources. They already 

 are a principal source of protein. They can provide many times the 

 current food supply if we but learn how to garner and husband this 

 self-renewing larder. To meet the vast needs of an expanding popu- 

 lation, the bounty of the sea must be made more available. Witlun 

 two decades, our o^vn Nation will rec^uire over a million more tons of 

 seafood than we now harvest. 



Mineral resources on land will ultimately reach their limits. But 

 the oceans hold untapped sources of such basic minerals as salt, potas- 

 sium, and magnesium in virtually limitless quantities. We will be 

 able to extract additional elements from sea water, such as manganese, 

 nickel, cobalt, and other elements known to abound on the ocean 

 floor, as soon as the processes are developed to make it economically 

 feasible. 



To predict, and perhaps someday to control, changes in weather 

 and climate is of the utmost importance to man everywhere. These 

 changes are controlled to a large and yet unknown extent by what 

 happens in the ocean. Ocean and atmosphere work together iu a 

 still m3'Sterious way to determine our climate. Additional research 

 is necessary to identif3' the factors in this interplay". 



