Data must be obtained from the oceans and then be reduced 

 and analyzed by new types of cumputers on ship and shore. It 

 must be gathered in a standard form, compatible with automatic 

 handling and processing, so that scientists and engineers in the 

 various fields of oceanography can readily utilize these data to 

 their fullest extent. To gather this data, new instruments must be 

 developed which are precise, reliable, and easy to operate under 

 the ambient working conditions. The cost of developing and procur- 

 ing the most efficient and reliable equipment is small when com- 

 pared to the cost of ship construction and operation. 



The administrators of the Navy, Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and other Government agencies 

 which operate large oceanographic progams realized that the need 

 for better oceanographic instruments was the most serious obstacle 

 and that some way was needed to coordinate the Government's 

 effort to develop and procure them. The Symposium was brought 

 about to effect a meeting between industry members interested in 

 working with Government and non-Government oceanographic agen- 

 cies and institutions and the field oceanographer s to discuss prob- 

 lems associated with instrument development aind manufacture. By 

 such wholesale contact much time and money could be saved, 

 because many companies are inquiring of Government and non-Gov- 

 ernment oceanographic departments and institutions how they might 

 contribute their unique talents to develop new oceanographic instru- 

 ments. If the objectives of the oceanographic programs were made 

 known, the special knowledge of industrial engineers and scientists 

 might provide radically new ideas of instruments and exotic methods 

 to observe and measure natural phenomena in the sea. Out of a 

 discussion of these ideas the Government-Industry Symposium was 

 conceived. It is a somewhat new technique in the field of science 

 and may be quite imperfect. We believe, however, that such a 

 forum will improve communication between oceanographer s and 

 American industry so that the broad experience of the first and the 

 great talent and ability of the second can combine to meet one of 

 the greatest challenges of our time, the exploration of the sea. 



For the purposes of this Symposium we are considering an 

 oceanographic instrument as (1) a device used to measure a 

 quantity or quality of the sea, be it physical, chemical, or biolo- 

 gical, such as temperature, salinity, density, depth, current, 

 wave motion and direction, radiation, water transparency, light 

 absorption, ambient light, tides, gravity, geomagnetism, or bot- 



