sources ashore coincident with the realization 

 that vast resources may be found beneath 

 both the shallow and deep sea constitutes an- 

 other intensive use of the sea, another source 

 of international conflict. The science of mete- 

 orology and the demands of modern society 

 on it have advanced to the point where 

 weather forecasters need to know the influ- 

 ence of the ocean on weather in discrete, real- 

 time terms. These and other uses each have 

 required more knowledge. The development 

 of such knowledge illuminates new uses and 

 resources of the sea which, in turn, create a 

 new demand for knowledge. 



Thus, the uses and the users of the sea have 

 increased and continue to increase in both 

 diversity and intensity. A once inexhaustible 

 resource has quite suddenly acquired limits, 

 and "use of the sea" becomes increasingly 



synonymous with "abuse of the sea." Free 

 access to, and the laissez-faire taking of, 

 oceanic resources is being forced to give way 

 to allocation and management. The need to 

 know the ocean, its processes and resources 

 in greater detail and in quantitative as well as 

 qualitative terms, therefore, is dictated in 

 large measure by the need both domestically 

 and internationally to make important social, 

 economic and poHtical decisions relating to 

 management and access. Hypothesis, specu- 

 lation and unsupported opinion lead to emo- 

 tional confrontations. Knowledge, broadly 

 acquired and soundly based, provides a fac- 

 tual foundation on which intelligent and ac- 

 ceptable rules and institutions can be built. 

 Thus, only through a thorough understanding 

 of the laws and processes at work in the ocean 

 it is possible to hope, as Pillsbury postulated, 

 that the fruits of research efforts will "revert 

 directly to the good of the human race." 



Feenan D. Jennings, Head 



Office for the International Decade 



of Ocean Exploration 



VI 



