176 MARINE SCIENCE 
COMMUNICATION FRoM Dr. ALAN BERMAN, ASSOCIATE DiRECTOR, HUDSON 
LABORATORIES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, Doses FERRY, N.Y. 
MARrcH 9, 1961. 
Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON, 
Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 
Washington, D.C. 
DeEAR SiR: I have recently finished reading a copy of your bill S. 901. I 
would like to congratulate you on the general excellence of your bill. I believe 
that you have covered all the reasonable needs of the oceanographic community. 
I am somewhat concerned about the provisions limiting the size of proposed 
oceanographic research vessels. The proper size of an oceanographic research 
vessel is a matter of personal preference which has been based on the experi- 
ence of individual laboratories. At our laboratory we operated for many years 
with a vessel of roughly 900 tons displacement, and were convinced that this 
was somewhat inadequate. We were quite fortunate to be assigned the services 
of the USNS Josiah Willard Gibbs. To my knowledge, this vessel with a dis- 
placement of slightly over 3,000 tons is the largest and most modern vessel 
operated by the United States for research purposes. We have been overwhelm- 
ingly impressed by the increase in our research capability which came about 
with the addition of such a large vessel. At this point we have considerable 
difficulty in convincing any of the scientists in this laboratory to plan experi- 
mental work on any of the smaller vessels which are at our disposal. The 
point is that as better and larger ships become available, the scope of work 
increases commensurably. I would therefore submit that you might reexamine 
the question of the maximum tonnage of oceanographic research vessels which 
would be permitted under this bill. 
It is recognized that the choice of vessel design depends on many complex 
factors. However, I think for a long range program of capital investment in 
oceanographic instrumentation, it would be best to have some ships of quite a 
bit larger tonnage than those specified in your bill. 
Very truly yours, 
ALAN BERMAN, 
Associate Director, Hudson Laboratories. 
COMMUNICATION FRoM Dr. FRANCESCO B. TRAMA, RUTGERS—THE STATE 
UNIVERSITY, NEw BRUNSWICK, N.J. 
Marcu 19, 1961. 
Re §8. 901. 
Hon. WARREN MAGNUSON, 
U.S. Senator, 
Washington, D.C. 
Dear Sir: It has recently come to my attention that you have reintroduced 
a bill into the Senate of the United States entitled, “Marine Sciences and Re- 
search Act of 1961.” May I commend you and your committee on this action. 
A Federal act as you have indicated is long overdue. ‘There are numerous 
potential centers for research and capable personnel in our universities as of 
now. What is lacking is a unified plan and the available funds for both basic 
and applied research. 
I was especially pleased to note that your bill included the Great Lakes be- 
cause these fresh waters constitute one of our greatest natural resources. To 
date there has been relatively little basic research performed on these huge 
bodies of water. This I know because I have been a research associate on the 
summer staff of the Great Lakes Research Institute, University of Michigan, 
for the past 4 years. At the present time I am desperately seeking financial 
support for a very basic study on the primary productivity of the Great Lakes. 
The National Science Foundation was unable to support this research not 
because it was unsound, but because their funds are limited and apparently 
distributed with respect to field of study and the geographic location of the 
study and institution. 
Your proposal to create a Division of Marine Sciences within NSF and to 
include six scientists on the committee is, in my opinion, most intelligent and 
shows considerable foresight on your part. 
Sincerely yours, 
FRANCESCO B. TRAMA, 
Assistant Professor. 
