30 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 



Washington^ D.G.^ August 2, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



GhaAvTnan^ Committee on Merchant Mariiie and Fisheries^ 

 House of Representatives, Washington, B.C. 



Dear Mr. Chairman : This letter is in response to your requests of' 

 March 4, 1965, and March 24, 1965, for a report on H.K. 5654, a bill to 

 provide for expanded research in the oceans and the Great Lakes, to 

 establish a National Oceanographic Council, and for other purposes, 

 and H.E. 6457, a bill to provide for a comprehensive, long-range, and 

 coordinated national program in oceanography, and for other 

 purposes. 



These bills would provide for the establishment in the Office of 

 Science and Technology in the Executive Office of the President a Na- 

 tional Ooeanographic Council, composed of the heads of the depart- 

 ments and agencies having an interest in oceanography. The bills 

 would also set out objectives to be sought in oceanography. 



H.E. 5654 and H.R. 6457 would extend to the Great Lakes the sci- 

 entific endeavors being conducted in and with relation to the oceans. 

 This Department carries on widespread activities in the Great Lakes 

 region. There are respects in which the behavior of the Great Lakes is 

 the same as that of the oceans. The inclusion of the Great Lakes in 

 the national oceanographic program would, in our judgment, be 

 appropriate. 



With respect to the organizational setting of the oceanographic 

 program, we prefer the provisions of H.R. 2218. That bill would vest 

 in the President the responsibility for issuing a statement of national 

 goals with respect to oceanography, for developing a comprehensive 

 program of oceanographic activities, for fixing the responsibility for 

 the direction of such activities, for reporting annually to the Congress 

 on stated aspects of the program, and for appointing an Advisory 

 Committee for Oceanography. This bill would provide a specific 

 statutory basis for interagency cooperation in programs in oceanog- 

 raphy and could serve to focus wider attention on oceanography. 



We would therefore recommend that H.R. 5654 or H.R. 6457 not 

 be enacted. 



We are advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objec- 

 tion to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the ad- 

 ministration's program. 

 Sincerely, 



Wilbur J. Cohen, 



Under Secretary. 



U.S. Department of the Interior, 



Office of the Secretary, 

 Washington, B.C., July 29, 1965. 

 Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, 



Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 House oj Representatives, Washington, D.C. 



Dear Mr. Bonner: Your committee has requested our views and 

 recommendations on seven specific bills concerned with the problem 

 of planning, coordinating, and financing the national oceanographic 

 program. This Department, through the Bureau of Commercial 



