trol, and information. The Center is funded through contributions of 
various agencies. 
Despite determined efforts of the NODC staff, quite clearly the Cen- 
ter falls far short in meeting demands of users. Furthermore, a study 
is needed to determine means for improving exisitng services and for 
broadening and extending the scope and versatility of services in re- 
sponse to a wide spectrum of user requests. 
The Center’s importance will increase as both federally and pri- 
vately sponsored activities in the ocean increase. Services of NODC 
need upgrading very badly, and this will require a substantial increase 
in funding, which is at present $1.4 million. The Panel recommends 
that the National Oceanographic Data Center be placed within the 
new agency recommended previously. Furthermore, to properly carry 
out its function as the country’s chief supplier of oceanographic data, 
the Center should develop capability for research in problems of data 
analysis and information retrieval. All this implies a substantial in- 
crease in funding. 
Laboratories and Facilities for Specialized Marine Studies 
Experimental and long-term studies on marine communities and 
organisms and on man’s ability to remain beneath the surface of the 
sea will require new types of specialized facilities. Once created, these 
facilities will make possible unique experimental approaches in these 
major research areas. They will be high in cost and special in nature. 
They should be administered so as to permit their use by investigators 
from many institutions, thus assuring full use over long periods of 
time. They should be appropriately located, whenever possible, near 
universities or other scientific centers for the contributions that such 
centers can make, 
Advances in both science and technology in several major areas 
of oceanography are presently hampered by lack of suitable facilities. 
In section 6 certain facilities required for development of physical 
oceanography (buoy systems, deep-sea instrumentation) were dis- 
cussed. In section 4 a facility of value to a wide range of technologi- 
cal efforts was considered. This section is concerned with facilities 
of importance to two areas of marine biology : 
1. Direct observational, experimental study of deep sea orga- 
nisms. 
2. Basic applied studies required to permit man to remain 
beneath the sea surface for long periods of time. 
Five categories of facilities of specialized types are required and 
recommended for work in these two areas: 
1. One or more medium-sized surface vessels suitably equipped 
for capture, maintenance, observation, and experimental study 
of deep sea organisms. Medium-sized vessels will be suitable for 
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