ss 



Government will draw upon it for the con- 

 duct of activities for which it is directly re- 

 sponsible, such as the provision of environ- 

 mental forecasts and the maintenance of wa- 

 terways. State and local governments will 

 draw upon it in managing their coastal 

 zones and in grappling with water pollution 

 problems generally. Industry will be called 

 upon to carry out many of the recommended 

 programs and will use the fundamental tech- 

 nology in resource development. The scien- 

 tific commimity will draw on it to develop 

 new ways to {n-obe the sea's mysteries. 



To advance the Nation's marine compe- 

 tence, the Commission concludes that specific 

 goals should be established which will chal- 

 lenge the Nation and accelerate its move- 

 ment into the seas. 



The goals selected by the Commission de- 

 rive quite naturally from the geography and 

 bathymetry of the sea. The U.S. continental 

 shelf presents the most immediate opix)r- 

 tunity. So far as is known, the continental 

 shelf is the most productive region of the sea. 

 However, economically valuable marine op- 

 erations already extend beyond shelf depths, 

 and a deeper goal is warranted in seeking to 

 improve national capability for productive 

 operations. Beyond the continental shelf is 

 the continental slope. Its potentially usable 

 area diminishes below the 2,000-foot level. 

 Present technological forecasts indicate that 

 the Nation can achieve the capability to op- 

 erate at the 2,00G-foot depth within a rela- 

 tively short time if basic research and de- 

 velopment are accelerated. Some ability 

 exists now to work at that depth. Further, 

 the 2,000-foot depth is close to current esti- 

 mates of the working potential of free-swim- 

 ming divers. As a primary goal, therefore, 

 the capability to operate at the 2,000-foot 

 depth is attainable and, because of the known 

 richness of the resources to be found out to 

 that depth, immediately rewarding. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 United States establish as a goal the 

 achievement of the capability to occupy 

 the bed and subsoil of the U.S. territorial 

 sea. The Commission also recommends 

 that the United States learn to conduct 

 surface and undersea operations to utilize 

 fully the continental shelf and slope to 

 a depth of 2,000 feet. 



The 2,000- foot contour encompasses most 

 or all the shelf-like areas; at that depth 

 the contuiental slopes drop rapidly to the 

 abyssal depths. Nearly 90 per cent of the 

 ocean floor lies between 2,000 and 20,000 feet, 

 most of it in the open oceans. The abyssal 

 depths are perhaps the least known area of 

 earth, but they are becoming increasingly 

 important for basic scientific understanding, 

 for military security, and for minerals after 

 more easily reached resources have been 

 tapped. Capability to operate at the 20,000- 

 foot depth would bring all but a few ocean 

 trenches within reach. That attainment of 

 such capability is a practical goal is cleai 

 from the promising characteristics of ad- 

 vanced structural materials, new concepts in 

 machinery and equipment, and better engi- 

 neering methods. Man himself already has 

 penetrated the oceans to even greater depths. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 United States establish as a goal the 

 achievement of the capability to explore 

 the ocean depths to 20,000 feet within a 

 decade and to utilize the ocean depths to 

 20,000 feet by the year 2000. 



To effectuate these recommendations will 

 require support for a variety of technological 

 programs. The Commission's proposals for a 

 broadly based program of fundamental tech- 

 nology' and for a series of National Projects 



