PANELISTS 



Dr. Samuel A. Lawrence, former Executive Director, Commission 

 on Marine Science, Engineerino; and Resources; Dr. John Knauss, 

 provost for marine affairs. University of Rhode Island, and former 

 chairman. Panel on Coastal Zone Management, Commission on Marine 

 Science, Engineering and Resources. 



Dr._ Wenk. Ladies and gentlemen, before introducing the members 

 of this panel and proceeding with the implementation of your part 

 in the proceedings, I would like to express appreciation to the chair- 

 man of this committee and to Chairman Lennon of this subcommittee 

 for their courtesy in inviting representatives of the executive branch 

 to this meeting. 



I belieA-e this hospitality reflects another dimension of marine af- 

 fairs. It has been bipartisan as Mr. Lennon has said, but there has 

 also been a unanimity of view, although not always simultaneously 

 on_ tlie two sides pf Washington, that the oceans '^are important to 

 this Nation and to its people. 



I want to say on the part of the Vice President and the Marine 

 Sciences Council that we applaud the initiative of this committee 

 in calling this meeting. We are pleased to see this attendance, because 

 as I will mention shortlj^, this interest in coastal matters takes on 

 meaning only in partnership with the States. 



May I also go on to say that this meeting and those attending it 

 reflect a major, and I believe profound, change in marine affairs. 

 A few years ago there was interest in the oceans on the part of a small 

 but eloquent group of scientists and they, working very hard, called 

 attention to the potential of the sea to our legislators. 



The most important act, I believe, that has been legislated in recent 

 yeaTS began with this committee and became a matter of law in 1966, 

 which, apart from the machinery that set up the Commission and the 

 Council about which you have heard, for the first time established 

 a mandate, a mandate to this Nation that it pay attention to the sea. 



Now, we are beginning to see the fruits of that mandate and we are 

 seeing that not only are oceanographers interested in the oceans, but 

 others as well : industrialists, bankers, economists, lawyers, executives 

 in State government, your Governors, and at the policy level in Wash- 

 ington, the Cabinet Officers, the Vice President and the President. 



Indeed, this is a major transition and it characterized by one furtlier 

 consideration and that is a determination to overcome this past neglect. 



Once I referred to the oceans and the inshore areas as our 51st 

 State. I also had the occasion to remark that sadly enough nobody 

 lives there and any representation that it may have either in Govern- 

 ment or in public affairs has had to be by proxy. 



So, beginning at this moment, I should like to ask each of you to 

 assume an additional identity if you will, and I invite our panelists 

 to do it as well, as residents of that 51st State. 



The story that you are going to hear in this short interval this 

 morning is one of problem identification and problem solution, and it 

 is not often in the affairs of Government that people live long enough 

 to see both things happen. But as you will hear from your two- 

 panelists, and subsequently from your" moderator, this has happened,, 

 talking about a concern now for the coastal zone. 



