SEA GRANT COLLEGES 223 



Dr. RouNSEFELL. Tliis was merely a suggestion, sir. 

 Senator Pell. Right. Thank you very much. Very kind of you 

 to come here. 



(The prepared statement of Dr. Rounsefell follows :) 



Prepared Statement of Dr. George A. Rounsefell, Professor of Marine 

 Biology, University of Alabama 



I commend the sincerity and dedication of Senator Claiborne Pell and the 

 scientists who labored with him in drafting this bill (S. 2439). I also thank 

 Senator Pell for his invitation to testify concerning it. The terms of reference 

 in the first draft of this bill are broad. Senator Pell has indicated, however, 

 that this bill perhaps should be modified before enactment. I agree on this point 

 and should like to suggest to this committee some changes which I feel are essen- 

 tial. 



Before explaining these needed changes I should like to state that I have been 

 a research scientist, administrator, and educator in fisheries and biological 

 oceanography for over 40 years. I have worked in California, Washington, 

 Alaska, Massachusetts, Maine. Texas, and Alabama, and spent 1 year in Turkey 

 for the Food and Agriculture Organization, besides serving a 4-year term in 

 Washington, D.C. I am familiar with all of your great fisheries and the fisher- 

 men who make their living thereby. I have seen oceanology and the marine 

 sciences grow from almost nothing to their present size. I have directed marine 

 science programs and laboratories and appreciate their problems. 



Prior to World War II. a number of marine laboratories were already in exist- 

 ence. Some were fostered and backed by universities, some were privately en- 

 dowed, and several were run by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. All were 

 oriented toward the study of living organisms ; a few managed to scrape together 

 enough money to buy an old vessel and make excursions from the shore to study 

 the chemistry, physics, and biology of the open sea. 



With the advent of World War II, it was suddenly realized that the scientists 

 at these marine laboratories could make important contributions to defense 

 through knowledge of ocean currents, wave heights, and the vagaries of under- 

 water sound. A few of these laboratories were recipients of large defense grants: 

 and contracts and so quickly outstripped the other laboratories in physical 

 facilities. 



After the war terminated, these laboratories continued to receive generous 

 defense funds. In addition, they and a few more laboratories obtained con- 

 siderable large-scale support from the National Science Foundation. But exist- 

 ing sources of funds are well-nigh exhausted, or fully obligated. 



Dr. Harve Carlson of the National Science Foundation recently stated "* * * 

 the national oceanographic program, encompassing the activities of 22 Federal 

 agencies, has been virtually level-funded for the past 4 years. This implies 

 that if a new project is to be started, somewhere an old project must be curtailed 

 or discontinued * * *. Many institutions are now financially undernourished." 



In view of the vast sums already spent on physical oceanography, and the much 

 smaller sums spent specifically on fisheries over the years, the results are pitiful. 

 U.S. fishery production has remained static for the past .SO years ; we have slipped 

 from second to a poor fifth place ; we import more fishery products than we 

 produce. At the same time, our agricultural production has been advancing in 

 giant strides. Why has our agriculture been so successful while our fishery 

 production has been failing? 



I believe the answer lies chiefiy in the difference between the manner of 

 financing and operation of marine education and research as contrasted to that 

 in agricultural education and research as carried out by our great land-grant 

 college system. Land-grant programs are devised and administered at the State 

 level, largely unfettered by bureaucracy. A large part of the supi)ort has been 

 institutional, thus permitting the development of a core group of faculty with 

 continuous and dependable financing. Marine education and research needs 

 this same type of funding. 



The President of the United States last September mentioned the concentra- 

 tion of Federal research and instructional funds in "* * * too few institutions 

 in too few areas of the country" and the need for providing support" * * * 

 under terms which give the university and the investigator wider scope for 

 inquiry, as contrasted with highly specific, narrowly defined projects." Unless 

 amended. S. 24.39 will increase the problem which the President has cited, to the 

 detriment of both marine science and our universities. 



