140 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



The Bureau has 22 vessels for research purposes, 10 of which are 

 capable of the high seas. Russia has approximately 60 oceanographic 

 research vessels engaged in purely fisheries research. 



And it is m the field of fisheries research that the Soviet Union is 

 reaping immense benefits. 



In 1964, the U.S.S.R. brought in a catch of over 5 million metric 

 tons of fish and other sea animal life. Over 80 percent of Russia's 

 annual fish catch is obtained from waters outside its own territorial 

 limits. 



We in Florida are concerned with the growing presence of Russian 

 fishing in the waters surrounding the Florida coast. Russian vessels 

 are moving more and more into fishing areas once the traditional 

 grounds of U.S. fishermen from the Carolinas, the Middle Atlantic 

 States, New England, and the gulf coast area, as well as Alaska and 

 west coast areas. 



The use of Cuba as a refueling, supply, and processing center for the 

 Soviet fleet has facilitated their move into the southeast region. 



In Havana, the Soviet Union has constructed an oceanographic 

 institute equipped with 26 laboratories. More than 100 Russian 

 marine scientists are working out of Cuba, surveying the resources 

 around the U.S. coastline. 



The pride of the Soviet oceanographic fleet, the Lomonsov^ a 6,000- 

 ton vessel, is not only the largest of its kind in the world, but has been 

 assigned to the Cuba-based marine research activities. 



This vessel is outfitted with 16 laboratories, and carries 70 marine 

 scientists. 



It is known that Russian ocean researchers are vitally interested in 

 the Gulf Stream. This rich and abundant "river in the sea" has been 

 termed the "major oceanographic phenomenon closest to the United 

 States" by Dr. Harris B. Steart, Jr., the Cliief Oceanographer of the 

 United States Coast and Geodetic Sur\'ey. 



This agency has just embarked on a year-long study of the Gulf 

 Stream in behalf of the United States, and is using two vessels from 

 the Commerce Department, along with support aircraft from the Coast 

 Guard and the U.S. Weather Bureau. 



Additional cooperative studies will be carried out by the Marine 

 Institute of the University of Miami, MIT, Columbia University's 

 Lamont Geological Observatory, and the Lerner Marine Laboratory 

 at Bimini, Bahamas, as well as the Woods Hole, in Massachusetts, 

 Oceanographic Institution and the University of Rhode Island. 



The concentration now beginning on the Gulf Stream, which has 

 been likened to a river because it discharges each hour 22 times as 

 much water into the sea as do all the world's rivers in a similar period, 

 demonstrates the importance of these hearings. 



The battlegroimd for knowledge of the oceans may well become the 

 fertile seas around America. What becomes the decision of this Con- 

 gress will have a great bearing on who will be the first to unlock the 

 secrets of Davy Jones' locker — the United States or Russia. 



I, therefore, urge that the approach to fullest utilization of our 

 resources be an orderly one as well as becoming a matter of national 

 urgency. 



The widespread interest in oceanography which has been generated 

 in recent months can be a helpful impetus toward accomplishing the 

 goals of U.S. superiority. 



