26 



Oceanography 1951 



the sea. The directors of the laboratories 

 are very much aware of this situation, but 

 the fact remains that with the exception 

 of the appHed fisheries investigations there 

 is almost no financial support in this coun- 

 try for general marine biology. 



Free development of the science is also 

 hindered by the inequality of the restricted 

 and unrestricted funds. With few excep- 

 tions, the senior men who knew something 

 about oceanography before the war have 

 all had to take on administrative duties. 

 Although this is no doubt generally true 

 of science in this country today, it is par- 

 ticularly acute in oceanography where ex- 

 pansion has been so rapid. The effort of 

 the younger scientists also is of necessity 

 deflected in directions where funds are 

 available. In consequence, inadequate 

 thought is being given to those problems 

 which do not have military applications 

 or do not bear on specific fisheries. 



Most of the assured income of the labora- 

 tories is now committed to maintain the 

 salaries of their basic staffs, and to provide 

 fellowships and laboratory facilities for 

 those not working on the Government pro- 

 grams. Only very minor sums remain for 

 new investigations at sea. Shortage of un- 



restricted funds also limits the use of the 

 shop facilities for the development of in- 

 struments and equipment except for special 

 work under Government contract. This is 

 seriously handicapping basic investigations. 

 In brief, oceanography does not at pres- 

 ent need and probably could not effectively 

 use very much larger sums than are now 

 available. It does need, however, a larger 

 proportion of its funds in the form of as- 

 sured income for the general purposes for 

 which the oceanographic laboratories were 

 founded, to give greater stability to ocean- 

 ography as a career, to correct the balance 

 between basic and applied research, and 

 to establish a firmer base to support work 

 done on short-time Government contracts 

 and appropriations. To accomplish this, 

 the assured income of the oceanographic 

 laboratories should be increased sufficiently 

 to permit them to operate independently 

 at least at the pre-war level of activity. If, 

 in addition, encouragement were given 

 to universities to extend the teaching of 

 oceanography, and if a limited number of 

 fellowships were available to permit able 

 students to undertake the study, a healthy 

 development of the subject would be 

 assured. 



