environment, development of required technology, and implementation of 

 ocean monitoring, would be a major task involving considerable expense, 

 and recommendations ])rofTered for the U.S. program were correspond- 

 ingly grand in scope. Budget' levels, however, never exceeded a small 

 fraction of projected needs ($15 million aimually as compared with the 

 Academics' estimate on the order of ^$100 million) and were clearly 

 insufficient for taking on all the projects which the various advisory bodies 

 had identified as desirable. NSF, charged with managing the U.S. pro- 

 gram, was faced with the challenge of scaling down the grand vision to 

 something of manageable size and significance while still retaining its 

 essential elements. 



What evolved was a j^rimarily scientific effort, responsive to the 

 ideas and capabilities of the U.S. oceanographic community, aimed at 

 acquiring the needed ujiderstandivj^ of the oceans and their resources. 

 Technology development, operational monitoring programs, and efforts 

 applied directly to resource development were omitted. International co- 

 operation and the growth of oceanic competence in the developing nations 

 have played a lesser role than was originally conceived. The essential 

 concept of looking at the ocean in an integrated, coherent, multidisci- 

 plinar)' manner was, however, retained. The projects which IDOE has 

 taken on are of such scope that they would have had considerable 

 difficulty finding funding elesewhere. They are characterized by a man- 

 agement structure in which the particijjating scientists play a significant 

 role in the design, direction and management of the program. While 

 many of these projects are insufficiently far along to permit more than 

 tentative assessment of success, all indications are that they are scientific- 

 ally sound and that much useful research is being carried out that would 

 have been unlikely to occur in the absence of the IDOE. While it is too 

 early to tell how great a contribution to improved management and 

 utilization of world oceanic resources the results will make, it is indis- 

 putable that knowledge of the oceans and their large-scale processes is 

 growing at a greater rate than would have been achieved by the more 

 traditional approach of "small science". 



The IDOE program is organized in four areas as suggested in "An 

 Oceanic Quest": environmental quality, eyivironmental forecasting, sea- 

 bed assessment, and living resources, each responsive to one of the goals 

 enumerated by the Vice President in 1969. 



• The Environmental Quality Program is concerned with the ocean 

 environment. Areas of study include the establishment of base- 

 line conditions for pollution in the marine environment, studies 

 of the rates and mechanisms by which pollutants are added to 

 the oceans and transferred from one part of the ocean system 

 to another, studies of the eflfects of pollution on marine organisms 

 and ecosystems, and global studies of the chemical constituents 



