SEA GRANT COLLEGES 41 



Atlantic is 24 years old, that smaller trawlers have an average age of 27 years, 

 and that a large percentage of our American fishing fleet is 50 years old. A man 

 may be in the prime of life at these ages- -but not a fishing vessel. Obsolete- 

 ness in this case accompanies age- -and, you might say, Neptune cruises the 

 seas along with Davy Jones. 



Our fishing industry employs today approximately half a million people 

 whose catch is estimated to be worth a billion dollars to our national economy. 

 Imports, however, provide more than half our country's supply of fishery prod- 

 ucts. The old days of American preeniinence in the harvesting of the seas-- 

 the days, for instance, when the world whaling industry was dominated by Amer- 

 ican skills- -have been washed back into the history books. We cannot, like King 

 Canute, expect to turn back the waves, or reverse the tides of history, by mere 

 demand or edict. But we can create new channels for our ingenuity to follow; 

 and, just as we have made the land more and more valuable to us, so can we 

 make the seas of ever increasing advantage. 



Already our country is receiving a substantial amount of revenues from 

 the ocean deeps, chiefly from rents, royalties and bonuses from off-shore oil 

 properties under governmental lease. Over the past 10 years these revenues 

 have amounted to over $1.5 billion. My proposals envisage using ten per cent of 

 these revenues annually for the sea-grant college program. 



Not all the revenues are immediately available- -a proportion is held nor- 

 mally in escrow. However, it can be predicted that by the means I suggest an 

 annual sum of at least $10 million would be available to finance the program. 

 And we can also forecast that this amount would grow as the program itself 

 made possible the expanded useful exploitation of marine resources. Thus, a 

 cumulative and evolving process would be established. What better investment 

 could we make from revenues which come from the seas? The same concept 

 applied to the land-grant colleges; and that investment has been returned many, 

 many times over. 



In recent years our off-shore revenues have varied considerably. Last 

 year they amounted to approximately $100 million, and this amount is expected 

 to increase during the current year. So that there can be appropriate funding 

 for the program 1 envision, my bill calls for the deposit of ten per cent of these 

 revenues in a special account in the Treasury. They would then be available for 

 appropriations on a stable annual basis. 



The legislation I have introduced calls for administration of the sea- grant 

 college program by the National Science Foundation. Although I remain open- 

 minded on this subject and there may well be other proposals we will wish to 

 consider, the National Science Foundation would seem a logical and appropriate 

 choice. It is already engaged in helping support oceanographic undertakings in 

 some 18 institutions of higher education, including the University of Rhode Island. 

 The Foundation has achieved a reputation of excellence and has contributed sub- 

 stantially to scientific advancement in a great many areas which involve our 

 national interest and our future goals. And these --both our national interest and 

 the goals we seek for our nation --are basically involved in the concepts we are 

 discussing at this conference. It has been suggested that we consider how best 

 to orient our existing institutions within the concept of greater and more mean- 

 ingful emphasis on oceanography- -whether a sea-grant college should be con- 

 stituted so as to focus entirely on studies in the marine sciences, or whether it 

 should be oriented so as to offer a variety of education in other subjects. Dr. 

 Leland J. Haworth, director of the NSF, has pointed out that "the outstanding 

 characteristic of modern oceanography is the extent to which the fundamental 

 sciences--physics, chemistry, and biology--are being used to develop under- 

 standing of the subject." 



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