value of extending the Great Lakes shipping season to specific guidance on 

 bookkeeping for fishermen and small seafood processors. 



Dissemination of research results to users has long been a key objective of 

 the Federal Ocean Program, particularly where it concerns fishermen whose 

 work takes them out of reach of the usual routine forms of communication. 

 Accordingly, much of the year's activity centered in extending advisory serv- 

 ices, a broad category of activity that includes all useful forms of communica- 

 tion to user audiences. This effort to provide the Sea Grant equivalents of 

 county agents in hip boots is working well. For example, one agent helped 

 smoked-fish processors upgrade their operations to meet new FDA stand- 

 ards and also helped industry devise new ways of convenience-packaging sea- 

 food family meals. 



In the coming year, while Sea Grant efforts in marine environmental re- 

 search, in development of marine technology and resources, and in education 

 and training continue with modest growth, major emphasis will go to ad- 

 visory services, primarily in the form of industrial workshops, advisory bul- 

 letins, and training of marine-oriented extension agents. 



A broader NOAA Marine Advisory Service, also aimed at putting marine 

 resource information into the hands of those who need it most, will begin in 

 1972, carried out by NOAA with its focus in the Office of Sea Grant. This 

 National Service will use the framework of the Sea Grant advisory exten- 

 sion activities to insure solid contacts at the State and local levels and the 

 special abilities of NOAA's major elements — Environmental Data Service, 

 Environmental Research Laboratories, National Environmental Satellite 

 Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Survey, and Na- 

 tional Weather Service. Several of these (for example, the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service) have well-established marine advisory programs that will 

 be coordinated and supplemented through the National Marine Extension 

 Service program. 



The way the program operates in the field is suggested by this recent ex- 

 ample. Oregon fishermen required a new kind of chart, and, working through 

 local Sea Grant advisory service personnel who helped them specify what 

 they needed, contacted the National Ocean Survey. The Survey then pro- 

 vided the base chart, bottom-sediment data, and technical cartographic and 

 production assistance while the Sea Grant program provided additional sedi- 

 ment data, produced the rough chart, and specified user requirements. When 

 the charts were published, the local program helped distribute them to the 

 fishermen. It is expected that the National Marine Extension Service will be 

 for those who use the sea what the Agricultural Extension Service has been 

 to those who farm the land. 



Manned Undersea Science and Technology Program 



The establishment and organization of NOAA's Manned Undersea Science 

 and Technology (MUS&T) office in mid- 1971 strengthened the national 

 base for the systematic pursuit of a nonmilitary manned undersea program. 

 The MUS&T office, which supports and coordinates the program, maintains 

 close liaison with the Navy to insure beneficial transfer of technology and 

 hardware from military to civil applications. 



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