NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1965 



House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Oce/Vnograpiiy 

 OF the C0MMITIT.E on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington^ D.C. 

 The subcommittee met at 10 :10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 

 1334, Longwortli House OtTice Building-, Hon. Alton Lennon (chair- 

 man of the subcommittee) presiding. 



Mr. Lennon. The subcommittee will come to order and resume its 

 hearings. 



Our first witness is my good friend and colleague and a member of 

 the Subcommittee on Oceanography, the Honorable Tom Ashley. 



STATEMENT OE HON. THOMAS L. ASHLEY, A EEPRESENTATIVE 

 IN CONGSESS FEOM THE STATE OF OHIO 



Mr. Ashley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During the past week 

 you and members of this subcommittee have heard numerous requests 

 and statements in support of the establishment of a National Ocean- 

 ographic Council. All of these statements, aside from outlining the 

 substantial benefits to science that would be derived from such a coun- 

 cil, have pointed out the necessity for some form of coordination of 

 this Nation's undersea research and development efforts. 



The dire need for this authority, and the strong tide of support 

 for its establishment can hardly be denied. There are many considera- 

 tions that provide ample justification for a national council to guide 

 our collective exploration of the seas — and I would like to review 

 these briefly, along with the salient features of my own bill, H.R.. 6457. 



The past few years, Mr. Chairman, have witnessed an awakening 

 of the world, and the United States in particular, to the realization 

 that the vast oceans of this planet conceal the greatest physical wealth 

 known to mankind. Dramatic technological advances have now 

 breached the oceans' depths and opened an entire new world, filled 

 to the brim with seemingly inexhaustible deposits of man's most dire 

 necessities. Mineral wealth, bottomless wells of petroleum, and pro- 

 tein sufficient to defeat the greatest enemy of man — ^the hunger and 

 poverty that has always driven him over the brink of self-destruc- 

 tion — ^^exist in such fantastic quantities that all of mankind will never 

 be ^^bleto consume it all. 



This natural treasure alone would be reason enough for an imme- 

 diate, all-out oceanographic research and development effort. But 

 there is even more need, 



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