11 



Dr. Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, will be our second witness. 



Dr. Neai Lane, director of the National Science Foundation, will 

 be our third witness. 



Dr. James Baker, administrator of the National Oceanic and At- 

 mospheric Administration, will be our fourth witness. 



Admiral Jeremy Boorda, USN, chief of naval operations. Depart- 

 ment of the Navy, will be our fifth witness. He is on his way here. 

 His plane just landed. He will be here shortly. 



Rear Admiral Paul Gaffney, commander of the Navy, Meteoro- 

 logical and Oceanographic Command at the Stennis Space Center, 

 will be our sixth witness. 



Dr. Robert Frosch, Center for Science smd International Affairs, 

 the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, will be our sev- 

 enth witness. 



And batting ciean-up today, and certainly someone who needs lit- 

 tle introduction, a good friend, Admiral Jim Watkins [retired], who 

 is the director of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and 

 Education. 



We're pleased and proud to have all of you here. And with that. 

 Dr. Ballard, we will welcome you and we will accept your state- 

 ment for the record and would invite you to make whatever com- 

 ments you'd like so that v/e can get into the questions. 



Dr. Ballard? 



STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT D. BALLARD, SENIOR SCIENTIST 

 DIRECTOR, CENTER OF MARINE EXPLORATION, WOODS 

 HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION 



Dr. Ballard. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to divide the time I've been 

 given to a formal presentation and then leave as much as possible 

 to questions you may want to ask of myself and other members of 

 our panel. 



I've already submitted a lengthy version of my testim.ony, which 

 I will now attempt to summarize. 



Modern research now suggests that all humans on the face of our 

 planet have come from a common heritage that can be traced back 

 to the eastern plains of Africa, and that during the last 200,000 

 years, our ancestors have journeyed forth from their birthplace to 

 populate the planet. 



Now many factors have led to the global expansion of our fore- 

 fathers. For one reason or another, the fact remains, our species 

 now dominates the planet, having conquered many of the forces 

 that held us in check for oh so many millenniums. 



Instead of being controlled by the forces of nature, we are nov/ 

 beginning to alter nature itself. 



Some demographers now tell us that there are more humans 

 alive today than have ever died since the beginning of our species. 

 And what took us 200,000 years to reach, we will double again as 

 we struggle through just the next century. 



Despite the rhetoric about the need to control the population, we 

 continue to multiply, entering an era where reproduction is now 

 endangering our existing instead of ensuring our sun'ival. 



But I am not here toda^v to talk about controlling the world's pop- 

 ulation. I'm simply an underwater explorer who has spent the last 



