76 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



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 

 concerned 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. 7849 combines the principal provisions of H.R. 5654 and H.R. 

 5884. There are no provisions of substance added in this combination 

 of the two bills. 



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 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 resources. 

 Since 1960 the program has been coordmated and its budgets planned 

 by the Interagency Committee on Oceanography of the Federal Coun- 

 cil for Science and Technology. Funds are appropriated through the 

 budgets of the individual cooperation agencies. The large number of 

 bills 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 concern of the legislative 

 branch of the Government that the present mechanism for planning 

 and review may not be adequate. The varying 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 pro- 

 gram. 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 admin- 

 ister the national oceanographic program should be enacted. 



