erid spacing to assist in the location of potential ore bodies, the oil 
industry would prefer broader spacing similar to the quality and 
degree of detail presently provided by the U.S. Geological Survey on 
land. It is recommended that: 
1. Information obtained from presently planned surveys be 
disseminated in a timely and coordinated fashion; otherwise, its 
value will be limited. 
2. The Federal Government conduct a survey of the U.S. con- 
tinental shelf and the water column above, taking into considera- 
tion the broad experience of the U.S. Geological Survey. 
e. Information Services. Industrialists are generally confused by 
the multiplicity of information services operated by the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Accordingly, the following recommendations are made: 
1. Information should be made available to industry by subject 
categories concerning who in the Government produces informa- 
tion, who stores it, the forms in which it may be retrieved, how it 
may be retrived, how it is categorized and subindexed, and the 
location of responsible Government contact points. 
2. Classified information should be made available to industries 
having an established need. 
Subsequent investigation of this subject area led to examination of 
several items in further detail. Thus, the present direction and fund- 
ing of the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), which is 
by voluntary agreement of the participating agencies, does not ade- 
quately provide for sound management, planning, or growth to meet 
obvious needs. Second, although handling proprietary information 
from scientific and international political standpoints is now in effect 
at NODC, a doctrine for procedures in handling industrial data has 
yet to be worked out. Accordingly, the following recommendations 
are made: 
1. The direction and funding responsibility of NODC should 
be placed under a single agency. Other agencies and customers 
should be served on a cost-reimbursable basis. 
2. A doctrine for procedures in handling industrial data should 
be worked out through a joint task team study. OSTAC would 
be willing to work with the ICO on this matter. 
3. The NODC should be exclusively responsible for storage, 
machine processing, retrieval, and dissemination of all marine 
physical, chemical, and bathymetric information and for such 
geological and biological information as lends itself to machine 
processing. 
4. The Smithsonian Institution should continue to be respon- 
sible for the processing, storage, and distribution of all geological 
and biological specimens resulting from the national ocean 
program. 
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