SEA GRANT COLLEGES 155 



We in Massachusetts are particularly well qualified to expand our 

 already considerable efforts in these areas, and to benefit from this pro- 

 gram. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has long been involved 

 in the life of the sea. For centuries, fishing fleets and whaling 

 schooners have sailed from the ports of Gloucester and Ro^kport, the 

 South Shore and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. 

 Today these same ports are the home base for fleets which farm the 

 Grand Banks and Atlantic waters. And these Massachusetts fleets 

 account for a large portion — 10 percent — of the total U.S. com- 

 mercial fish catch, surpassed only by Alaska and California. How- 

 ever, today, instead of having the 20th century equivalent of the 

 powerful formidable fleets of the 1800's, our fishermen are working 

 with outdated equipment and inefficient facilities. 



We have the resources in Massachusetts to change this. Our State 

 is one of the oldest and most respected centers of marine research in 

 the country. In addition to research facilities within academic insti- 

 tutions such as Boston College, Boston University, MIT, North- 

 eastern, and the University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts is proud 

 of its special marine institutes such as the New England Aquarium, 

 the Marine Biological Laboratories, and the Woods Plole Ocean- 

 ographic Institute. 



Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the record a copy of an ex- 

 cellent speech presented last week at the New England Aquarium by 

 Dr. Bostwick H. Ketchum, associate director of the famous Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution. I believe this speech illustrates 

 quite well the long-term interest Massachusetts has had in the marine 

 sciences and the extent of the State's oceanographic activities. 



(The speech of Dr. Ketchum follows :) 



Marine Sciences in New England 



(By Dr. Bostwick Ketchum, Associate Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic 



Institution) 



New England has a long and distinguished history in conducting research in 

 the marine sciences. One may think of history as looking back upon the past, 

 but several recent activities suggest that the history of marine science in New 

 England has been a stage of growth and preparation for the changes in marine 

 science which may be just around the corner. One of these activities is the 

 formation formally announced just yesterday, of the Massachusetts Association 

 for Marine Sciences which includes as members several of the Massachusetts 

 universities, the New England Aquarium, and both the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass. 

 Another action which may have a profound effect on the development of marine 

 sciences is the bill submitted in the Senate of the United States by Senator 

 Pell of Rhode Island providing for the establishment of sea grant colleges and 

 universities which could provide, for the exploration and the exploitation of the 

 oceans, the same kind of stimulus that was given to the development of agricul- 

 ture by the formation of land-grant colleges. Hearings on this bill are scheduled 

 to be held at the University of Rhode Island on next Monday, May 2, 1!)66. 

 These are merely two examples of the actions, both public and private, which 

 may profoundly influence the future of marine sciences in New England. It 

 may be worthwhile to review briefly the history of the development of marine 

 sciences in order to provide perspective for the future. 



One important unique facet of this history has been the development in 

 Woods Hole, Mass., of a group of laboratories which have established a center 

 for marine research which has gained worldwide renown. Three sojiarate and 

 independent laboratories have been established and have flourished in this 

 small village, lliese are the Biological Laboratory of the Bureau of Commer- 

 cial Fisheries, the Marine Biological LaboratoiT, and the Woods Hole Oeeano- 

 G2-906 — 66— — 11 



