SEA GRANT COLLEGES 127 



Senator Pell. Thank you very much for your testimony. 



Our next speaker is Mr. John Horton, vice president of the Greater 

 Providence Chamber of Commerce. We are very glad that you were 

 able to come here today and testify on behalf of the Greater Provi- 

 dence Chamber of Commerce. 



STATEMENT OF JOHN HORTON, VICE PEESIDENT, GREATER 

 PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PROVIDENCE, R.I. 



Mr, HoRTON. Mr. Chairman, I am privileged to be here today on be- 

 half of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. 



Since 1636 when Roger Williams founded his settlement at the head 

 of Narragansett Bay, the destiny of Rhode Island and Providence 

 Plantations has been linked firmly with the oceans of the world. In 

 fact, veiy few Rhode Islanders are acquainted with the fact that 

 Pawtucket was once a shipbuilding center. 



Today, on the quiet, sloping streets of our East Side Hill, shaded 

 by ancient elms and lindens, stand the great houses, \drtually un- 

 changed since the days of the sea captains and merchants who built 

 them in the l700's. Today there exists throughout Rhode Island a 

 new awareness, a determined dedication to discover and harvest the 

 vast potential and rich rewards of the ocean. 



In January of this year, the chamber's board of directors, speaking 

 for the 2,000 members and 1,000-member firms of the Greater Provi- 

 dence Chamber of Commerce, unanimously voted to support Senator 

 Claiborne Pell's bill, S. 2439, Avhich authorizes the establishment and 

 operation of sea grant colleges and programs of education, training, 

 and research in the marine sciences, and a program of advisory services 

 relating to activities in the marine sciences, to facilitate the use of the 

 submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf by participants carry- 

 ing out these programs. 



In backing Senator Pell's bill, the chamber's board stated that "the 

 important potential of the sea as a source of food is reason enough to 

 expand this Nation's interest and activity in the study of the ocean.'^ 

 The needs of the Nation's defense posture, added to this possible solu- 

 tion of the grim prospects of famine that exist in many areas of the 

 world, are cause for action today in the field of oceanography, the 

 potential rewards of which challenge the imagination. 



Already there are more than 200 companies in this country with a 

 major interest in oceanography, and more firms are entering this 

 complex field each year. To staff these private organizations with 

 competent oceanographers and technicians will be an invaluable bene- 

 fit derived from creation of sea grant colleges. 



Much progress in oceanography can be seen in Rhode Island and 

 southern New England. Outstanding research facilities exist staffed 

 by expert technicians, and additional facilities are now under con- 

 struction. The chamber's interest in oceanography helped to create 

 the Southern New England Marine Sciences Association, an areawide 

 organization devoted to the promotion of the marine sciences and the 

 acquisition, storage, retrieval, dissemination of information on ocean- 

 ography. 



New studies are being made in the field of international laws deal- 

 ing in the exploration of the sea. I note with satisfaction that the first 



