336 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



For example, you might have an oil man one year, an instrmnent 

 man another year, and somebody else later on. 



But the ICO would in any case be there to work on the Government's 

 part of any overall program. 



If the ICO would have the power or made it the practice of sitting 

 together at their various meetings and say, "Fellows, here is some- 

 thing that ought to be done, we will recommend that to the different 

 departments, to the department that ought to ask for it." 



Then the department might accept that. It might have been some- 

 thing that department had not thought of from the broad standpoint. 

 Then it gets in their budget and the Federal Council will have a look 

 at it, presumably, and they will have the same veto power they have 

 now, but in the meantime the ICO will be strengthened as I see it by 

 that. 



That is all I have, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Lennon. Doctor, we certainly appreciate your presence here 

 today 



]\Ir. Ashley. Mr. Chairman, could I ask a couple of questions of 

 the witness ? 



Mr. Lennon. Off the record. 



(Discussion off the record.) 



Mr. Lennon. Back on the record. 



All right, Mr. Ashley, you may proceed. 



Mr. Ashley. Mr. Secretary, I have a not too parochial interest, I 

 hope, in the Great Lakes, which, of course, is the largest body of fresh 

 water in the entire world. 



Are the Great Lakes included in our national oceanographic pro- 

 gram ? 



Dr. Morse. No, sir; we have not presented, except perhaps there 

 may be some peripheral activity, but in general we have not included 

 that in our listing of what we call the national oceanographic pro- 

 gram. 



Mr. Ashley. Well, as you look to the future would you expect there 

 would be additional effort in tliis area ? 



Dr. Morse. Yes, sir. If I might take a moment just to comment. 



Mr. Ashley. Please. 



Dr. Morse. This is relevant to this. The ICO or the definition of 

 what is called the national oceanographic program is just that, it is 

 a definition, and if you look back in the history of the development of 

 the recent activity in oceanography its generated from an obvious 

 need that, as a science, oceanograpliy in this country was just not 

 getting the attention and support that the subject merited and so it 

 was natural that the activity of the ICO has, in the past, concentrated 

 rather lieavily on what one could call traditional oceanography — that 

 is within the science particularly. 



One of the issues that we have continually discussed within the ICO 

 and, in fact, we have a meeting of the committee this afternoon, and 

 this is one of our particular items — is that it is becomming evident 

 to us that we must enlarge the area in which we are trying to look at 

 to include activities such as, for example, the area of exploitation or 

 engineering actiivties in the ocean which we have only recently tried 

 to understand and have set up groups to pull the information out. 



The more one expands this way the more one finds activities in other 

 places. 



