progress toward a significant foreign policy objective. The amassing of 

 baseline data on pollutants in the ocean, which will be of use to regula- 

 tory agencies in setting pollution standards and devising monitoring 

 programs, is a major technical contribution, basic to the setting of en- 

 vironmental policy. The publication of a series of maps showing the 

 world-wide distribution and metal content of manganese nodules is a 

 contribution to economic goals. 



We believe more could and should be done to enhance the prospect 

 of increased public benefit from IDOE activities. We are aware of the 

 series of NSF marine science affairs workshops whose aim is to consider 

 potential applications, identify those additional areas of expertise which 

 should become involved in implementing results, and lead to plans for 

 incorporating those disciplines into the ongoing programs. We hope these 

 workshops will recommend specific steps to close existing gaps between 

 IDOE findings and applications. In particular, the links between indi- 

 vidual projects and the long-range goals set at the beginning, and the 

 prospect of involving mission agencies in the eflfort to develop applica- 

 tions should be kept in mind. 



Given the nominal termination date of 1980, what does NACOA recom- 

 mend about the future of the IDOE? 



The International Decade of Ocean Exploration is doing a good job. 

 We believe the "Decade" should end in 1980, as scheduled, not because 

 all oceanic problems will have been solved, or because it would not be 

 productive to continue the program, but because its stated purpose — a 

 decade of concentrated effort to make a start toward acquiring the needed 

 understanding of the oceans — will have been accomplished. 



This does not mean that the work IDOE does should terminate. 

 In fact its institutionalization would be desirable, and in the following 

 section we specify how this might be accomplished. 



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