i3 



Manpower for the National Capability 



Attempts to determine the number of 

 trained and educated people available for ma- 

 rine operations or to forecast future require- 

 ments inevitably encounter serious difficulty. 

 The principal problem is one of definition. 

 There seems to be no simple or widely ac- 

 cepted way to define a marine scientist, engi- 

 neer, or technician. 



Although degrees are granted in ocean- 

 ography and their holders usually work 

 as oceanographers, most marine scientists 

 obtain their degrees in the basic scientific 

 disciplines. Hence, physicists, chemists, geol- 

 ogists, meteorologists, geographers, and biol- 

 ogists who are working in marine research 

 are not identified clearly as marine scientists. 



The same is true of ocean engineering, 

 which just now is emerging as an accepted 

 term. An ocean engineer is simply an engineer 

 who practices his specialty in the marine en- 

 vironment or=in activities related to the sea. 

 To a degree, the saine problem exists in the 

 technical specialties. Although it is possible 

 to identify some specialties such as fisheries 

 technician, oceanographic aide, or diver, 

 others such as electronics technician or bio- 

 logical laboratory technician are skills in 

 both land and marine activities. Also many 

 technicians whose work relates entirely to 

 marine matters never go to sea. Among the 

 land-based marine technical specialties are 

 biological sorters, laboratory technicians, me- 

 chanical and engineering technicians, chemi- 

 cal teclinicians, cartographers, and the great 

 majority of electrical and electronics techni- 

 cians. Very few of the industries that employ 

 such personnel classify them as marine 

 technicians. 



There is no single Federal agency with 

 overall resjjonsibility for marine manpower 

 matters, although several agencies, operating 

 with minimal coordination, are supporting, 



initiating, or planning marine educational 

 programs. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agen- 

 cy be assigned responsibility to help 

 assure that the Nation's marine manpower 

 needs are satisfied and to help devise uni- 

 form standards for the nomenclature of 

 marine occupations. 



The new agency should be assigned respon- 

 sibility to obtain, organize, and maintain 

 marine manpower statistics, to analyze trends 

 in manpower requirements in all marine 

 fields, to project future requirements, to co- 

 ordinate Federal agency marine education 

 and training activities, and to maintain an 

 inventory of marine educational facilities in- 

 cluding ships and shore installations. 



Special attention should be given to meth- 

 ods for updating midcareer skills and for aid- 

 ing transfer across disciplines. The transfer 

 of scientists, engineers, and technicians from 

 land to marine activities will follow the open- 

 ing of new opportunities in the sea. But in 

 some specialties, the transfer requires reedu- 

 cation or reorientation. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Science Foundation expand its 

 support for undergraduate and graduate 

 education in the basic marine-related 

 scientific disciplines and plan postdoc- 

 toral and midcareer marine orientation 

 programs in consultation with the aca- 

 demic and industrial marine communities. 



The National Sea Grant Program, charged 

 by the Congress with educating and training 

 applied manpower, has encouraged develop- 

 ment of ocean engineering at the marine 

 technician, undergraduate, and graduate 



