NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 9 



an. Advisory Committee for Oceanogi-aphy. Tliis l)ill would provide 

 a specific statutory basis for interagency cooperation in programs in 

 oceanography and could serve to focus wider attention on oceanog- 

 raphy. 



We would therefore recommend that H.R. 921, providing for the 

 establisliment of the National Oceanographic Agency, not be enacted. 

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

 jection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the 

 administration'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, B.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 

 Fisheries, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, 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: 

 H.R. 921 provides for the establishment of a new and independent 

 agency which would be headed by an Administrator to establish a 

 coordinated national program for oceanography and related sciences, 

 including meteorology. It provides for the transfer of aU the functions 

 now carried out by approximately eight governmental agencies in- 

 volving the subjects of physical oceanography, biological oceanog- 

 raphy, marine geology, meteorology, and others. Also to be trans- 

 ferred are personnel, property records, and unexpended appropria- 

 tions related to these functions. 



^ « 4: * « 4: * 



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

 coordinating, and financing the national oceanographic program. 

 This is a larger 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 

 research 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 atmosphere; 

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

 seabed, and methods of conserving and harvesting these natural 



53-367 — 65 2 



