Marine animal sound ennitters may produce sounds which greatly 

 increase the ambient sound level as in the case of snapping shrimp, 

 barnacles, etc. , or they may emit sounds which may be confused 

 with sounds produced by surface or underwater vehicles. Also, 

 sedentary marine organisms, i.e., fouling animals and plants, 

 may either camouflage a target, rendering it less susceptible to 

 acoustic detection as in the instance of soft fouling masses covering 

 a bottom mine, or it may increase the acoustic target strength of 

 an xxnderwater object as in the case of barnacle and mussel growth 

 on rubber- or plastic-covered equipments. The immediate objective 

 of the Hydrobiology Program has been to provide the Navy with a 

 body of information which will enable it to predict the degree and 

 type of marine biological interference which it is likely to encounter 

 in any environmental and geographical locality of current or poten- 

 tial operational interest. The program has been quite successful 

 in meeting this requirement except for one aspect; namely, the 

 need to obtain data on deep ocean biological sound producers. How- 

 ever, this problem is being overcome by the establishment recent- 

 ly of a permanent underwater bioacoustic station to which will be 

 added shortly an underwater television system. Both the acoustic 

 and video pickups will be located in the Florida Straits on the 

 bottom of the Gulf Stream. They will be cable-connected to a 

 marine laboratory located on the island of Binnini in the Bahamas 

 and will enable scientists to monitor and record sounds produced 

 by relatively deepwater animals which either live in the Florida 

 Straits or migrate along the Gulf Stream. When completed, this 

 installation will represent the world's first permanent deepwater 

 biological acoustic- video research station. 



The problem of control of marine particulates of bioacoustic 

 importance is much more complex and requires a knowledge of the 

 biology and behavior of these forms. This is a long-term project 

 involving taxonomy, chemistry, ecology, physiology, and acoustics. 

 However, good progress is being made in acquiring a body of 

 fundamental information on this subject. 



The problems of control of marine deterioration and fouling 

 as well as the problem of marine biological interference with 

 underwater sound propagation have been presented in some detail 

 in order to illustrate the scope of the Hydrobiology Program. 

 In addition, a number of other problems of concern to the Navy may 

 be mentioned briefly. 



3. Control of and protection against poisonous, venomous, and 

 carnivorous marine animals: The Navy continues to be confronted 

 with the problem of protecting underwater swimmers as well as 

 survivors at sea against sharks, barracuda, moray eels, and other 



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