NODC in cooperation with UNESCO, is designed to strengthen capabilities 

 to acquire, process, and utilize information on ocean resources. 



In a related program, not associated with the IOC, AID made up to 

 $450,000 available in June 1971, to the Marine Science Project of the Or- 

 ganization of American States (OAS) Regional Development Program of 

 Science and Technology. This grant was made through the Special Multi- 

 lateral Fund as a special, unmatched, one-time contribution to upgrade the 

 capabilities of four institutions under the Program to become regional marine 

 science training centers, with the proviso that OAS assign to marine science 

 training the highest priority for funding of new programs in their budget 

 for 1971-72 and beyond. The AID contribution covers costs for equipment 

 and related training services for regional purposes at marine institutions in 

 Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Under this Program, the Na- 

 tional Oceanographic Instrumentation Center is collaborating with the OAS 

 to develop appropriate oceanographic equipment lists and related services, 

 including the training necessary to insure that all equipment purchased 

 under this Program remains in calibration and in operating condition for a 

 reasonable length of time. 



Planning began under the auspices of the Cooperative Investigation of 

 the Northeast Central Atlantic (CINECA) for conducting two brief but 

 intensive surveys of upwelling off the northwest coast of Africa in 1973. The 

 United States also participated in the continuing Cooperative Investigations 

 of the Mediterranean (CIM) ; the Smithsonian's Mediterranean Marine 

 Sorting Center in Tunisia continued to function as the CIM Biological 

 Center and cooperated with UNESCO in training area technicians in the 

 fundamentals of evaluation of living marine resources. 



The United States was also active in 1971 in the IOC Cooperative Inves- 

 tigation of the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CICAR), a 15-nation co- 

 operative scientific effort completing its third year of field operations in the 

 Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The overall scientific program is 

 directed toward the developing and understanding of the physical ocean- 

 ography, fisheries, marine biology, geology and geophysics, and meteorology 

 of the Caribbean area. 



Ships of many countries and from NOAA, the Coast Guard, USGS, and 

 various American universities and institutions have been concentrating heav- 

 ily in the southern Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan Channel area where sig- 

 nificant advances have been made in the understanding of the complex 

 circulation patterns. Work has also been accomplished in measuring the 

 water movement through the Antillean passes at the eastern side of the 

 Caribbean. A deep-sea tide gage program has emplaced bottom-mounted 

 tide gages on the shallow banks in the western Caribbean as well as in water 

 over 2 miles deep in the area south of Puerto Rico. Results have shown that 

 an amphidromic point, as predicted, does indeed lie in that area. 



In the fisheries portion of CICAR, considerable progress has been made on 

 the standardization of sampling techniques and on the evaluation of stocks 

 of larvae and juveniles of fish which might occur in commercial quantities. 

 In marine geology and geophysics, major work has been carried out by the 

 United States and United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, Mexico and 

 Venezuela. This work has been aimed at defining the geological and tec- 



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