221 



erly the vast quantities of marine material 

 that could be left at it-s doorstep under this 

 law. At present, the Smithsonian insists on 

 compliance only when it believes collections 

 will otherwise be lost. The Commission con- 

 curs in this interpretation of tlie law. 



On the other hand, biological and geolog- 

 ical investigations can'ied on by mission-ori- 

 ented agencies, universities, and oceano- 

 graphic institutions frequently result in the 

 collection of large and diverse samples. In 

 many instances, only a small portion of the 

 collection is studied; for example, only the 

 fish eggs and larvae may lie counted, identi- 

 fied, and subjected to apiii-opriate analyses. 

 The remaining portions of the sample, which 

 constitute more than 90 per cent of the collec- 

 tion, are valuable for future reference. Judg- 

 ment of the impact of environmental change 

 and determination of long-term trends de- 

 pend upon the availability of collections made 

 either prior to the change or over long peri- 

 ods of time. Adequate storage facilities and 

 appropriate curatorial responsibility must be 



Staff tnemhers at the Smithsonian 

 Institution's Zooplankton Sorting 

 Laboratory in Washington, D.C. 

 classify, catalogiw, and store marine 

 biological specimens from the 

 world's oceans. 



assigned to ensure that valuable materials 

 will not be lost. Costs of maintenance are 

 small relative to the original costs of nuiking 

 the collection, and they should be considered 

 a part of the operating expense of the 

 national oceanographic program. The Ck)m- 

 mission concludes that the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution is the proper agency to perform this 

 function. The organization that collected the 

 material should be encouraged to make it 

 available to the Smithsonian, at the Smith- 

 sonian's expense. 



A Coordinated System of Data Centers 



The needs for marine data require that the 

 Federal Government ensure that the activities 

 of its principal data centers operate as part 

 of a coordinated system. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanographic Data Center, the 

 National Weather Records Center, and 

 the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting 

 Center be adequately supported to enable 

 them to keep up with the growing volume 

 of marine data and to take advantage of 

 modern storage and retrieval technology. 

 The NODC and NWRC should be lodged 

 in and funded by the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Agency. NOAA also 

 should be charged with coordinating the 

 various components of the overall marine 

 data system and establishing priorities 

 for data production and storage. 



Instrument Testing and Calibration 



At present, there is a wealth of data within 

 the Nation that is of limited value because 

 of low confidence in the data quality or be- 

 cause the data came from diverse sources and 

 are not comparable. This is not only a 

 national problem, but it increasingly is be- 

 coming an international one. 



Much of the national investment in ocean 



