NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 31 



Fisheries, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and WildUfe, the Bureau of 

 Mines, and the Geological Survey, is greatly interested in, and directly 

 concerned with the science of oceanography. We are primarily con- 

 cerned with the development of the natural resources of the oceans. 

 Consequently, we desire that this form of research and development 

 proceed efficiently and effectively in the national interest. 

 Described briefly, the bills before the committee are: 



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H.R. 5654 provides for the establishment of a National Oceano- 

 graphic Council composed of the Vice President, certain Cabinet mem- 

 bers, including the Secretary of the Interior, and certain other heads 

 of agencies, including the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- 

 nology. The function of this Council is to advise the President on 

 oceanography and the marine sciences. H.R. 6512, H.R. 7301, and 

 H.R. 7798 are identical bills. 



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All of these bills deal in various ways with the problem of planning, 

 coordinating and financing the national oceanographic program. 

 This is a large program of research and development which involves 

 several Federal Government departments and specialized agencies. 

 It is largely based on the recommendation of a committee of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, which in 1959 proposed that the 

 Federal Government embark on a 10-year program of expanded re- 

 search on the oceans. The program involves studies of the physics, 

 chemistry, geology, and biology of the ocean and its contiguous 

 waters; the relationships and interactions between ocean and atmos- 

 phere; and the living, mineral, and fossil resources of the ocean waters 

 and seabed, and methods of conserving and harvesting these natural 

 resources. Since 1960 the progTam has been coordinated and its 

 budgets planned by the Interagency Committee on Oceanography of 

 the Federal Council for Science and Technology. Funds are appro- 

 priated through the budgets of the individual cooperating agencies. 

 The large number of biUs which have been introduced in the Congress 

 in recent sessions proposing to alter this coordinating machinery or 

 to begin new studies of the ocean and its resources reflects the con- 

 cern of the legislative branch of the Government that the present 

 mechanism for planning and review may not be adequate. The vary- 

 ing nature of the individual solutions to the problem represented by 

 these bills is a fair indication of the complexity of the problem. 



We believe that there is a growing need for a perspective in which 

 the oceanographic programs of the Federal Government can be more 

 clearly seen in relation to each other and in relation to the national 

 goals which they support. All of these bills contain some features 

 which could be helpful in carrying out a national oceanographic 

 program. The position of the executive branch, however, is that H.R. 

 2218 should be enacted, but that the enactment of any of the other 

 bills would be premature at this time. This position is based on the 

 premise that the President's Science Advisory Committee's Panel on 

 Oceanography is at the present time making the kind of investigation 

 and study that is contemplated by H.R. 9064. When the Panel 

 completes its study and submits its report Congress can more appro- 

 priately decide whether additional legislation dealing either with a 

 further study or with a revised governmental organization to ad- 

 minister the national oceanographic program should be enacted. 



