CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



The Committee believes that the oceaiio- 

 graphic sciences offer a rich and promis- 

 ing field for research. Continned progress 

 is essential not only to increase man's 

 nnderstanding of the world in which he 

 lives, and its biological processes, but 

 also as a basis for the exploitation of the 

 imtapped resources of the oceans. To in- 

 sure this progress both private and public 

 support are needed to provide the stability 

 and freedom prerequisite to basic scientific 

 advances. Government support on a liberal 

 and farsighted basis should continue to pro- 

 vide the extensive coordinated effort de- 

 manded by the size and complexity of 

 oceanic phenomena. 



The Committee recommends that a de- 

 termined effort be made to secure private 

 funds for the following specific purposes: 



1. Provision of research fellowships, at 

 both pre- and post-doctoral levels, at exist- 

 ing oceanographic institutions. Such fel- 

 lowships would enable young people 

 trained in the basic sciences to use their 

 abilities and experience on research in 

 oceanography. Many of the recipients of 

 such fellowships may be confidently ex- 

 pected to gain a permanent interest in and 

 understanding of problems of the sea, and 

 to make these problems a lifelong focus 

 of their research work. Because of the 

 specialization involved in oceanographic 

 research and the time required to bring 

 a research problem to a successful con- 

 clusion, these fellowships should be for 

 at least two and preferably three years. 



2. Provision for visiting investigators 

 both from American colleges and abroad. 

 If it were possible to furnish adequate 

 laboratory facilities and ships services to 

 visitors at the existing laboratories, new 

 ideas and advances in the basic sciences 

 would quickly be applied to the ocean. 

 Thus the isolation of these laboratories 

 because of their location at the water's 



edge would in large part be overcome. Be- 

 fore this becomes feasible it will be neces- 

 sary to alleviate the overcrowded condi- 

 tions of laboratory buildings and to endow 

 the unrestricted operations of the ships, at 

 least in part. 



3. Provision of permanent positions for 

 research workers in the oceanographic sci- 

 ences. By far the greater part of oceano- 

 graphic research is now supported by con- 

 tract funds on a relatively short-term basis. 

 As a result, commitments cannot be made 

 for new positions with tenure at the oceano- 

 graphic institutions despite the large in- 

 crease in the numbers of persons engaged 

 in oceanographic research. Consequently, 

 considerable difficulty exists in attracting 

 and holding research workers of the high- 

 est caliber. This situation should be rem- 

 edied both by increasing the number of 

 permanent staff positions at the oceano- 

 graphic institutions and by providing fac- 

 ulty positions in universities. 



4. Provision for support of research in 

 basic aspects of biological and chemical 

 oceanography. These fields are not now 

 receiving adequate support from govern- 

 ment sources primarily because of their 

 lack of immediate importance to military 

 or fisheries problems. They present, how- 

 ever, many of the most challenging and 

 promising problems of the sea. 



5. Support of high seas exploratory expe- 

 ditions. The development of new methods 

 for sounding and navigation, for geophysi- 

 cal and geological exploration of the sea 

 bottom, for measuring currents and prop- 

 erties of ocean waters, and for collecting 

 and studying marine organisms has pro- 

 ceeded very rapidly during the past ten 

 years. Because of lack of funds these 

 methods have so far been applied primar- 

 ily to relatively nearshore waters. These 

 new tools should be used for exploration 

 of the entire oceans. With oceanographic 



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