NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 593 



with oceangoing vessels and scientists to collect biological materials, (3) help 

 with recruitment of outstanding marine sediment and taxonomic scientists, 

 (4) represent the Smithsonian Institution on various committees and councils 

 concerned with oceanography, (5) bring the Smithsonian's oceanogi-aphic plans 

 and needs to the attention of scientists and administrators elsewhere, CO) act 

 for the Director in his absence, and (7) plan, develop, and operate for the In- 

 stitution a sorting center for marine biological and geological materials. 



The second new concept is embodied in item (7) to establish a sorting center 

 for marine collections. Traditionally the Institution had avoided most of the 

 efforts to orient itself toward services. The original charter called for the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, loosely defined as to do research 

 and publish it. This new activity was a deliberate response to a felt need ; 

 to coordinate the collecting of natural history specimens from the ocean and 

 to provide service in several ways, thus insuring that the collections were proc- 

 essed for their intrinsic scientific value. 



The Institution has developed its modern oceanography program generally 

 around the concept of exploratory oceanography. It is concerned with the 

 kinds, distributions, and populations of organisms and sediments in the world 

 ocean. It has an active program to learn all about the organisms and sediments 

 encountered in the ocean and to insure that the maximum scientific information 

 is made available concerning these objects. Thus the activities of the Institu- 

 tion generally revolve around the collecting of specimens. 



Scientists in the Institution participate in collecting expeditions to all oceans. 

 They engaged in collecting efforts on the National Science Foundation's vessels 

 Anton Brvun and Te Vega during the international Indian Ocean expedition. 

 They collected specimens on the Woods Hole oceanographic vessel, Cham, and on 

 the Bureau of Commer'cial Fisheries vessel, Geronimo, during the international 

 cooperative investigations of the tropical Atlantic. They continue to collect 

 on the National Science Foundation's Antarctic program vessel Eltanin in the 

 Antarctic. They have participated in a South Atlantic cruise of the National 

 Aeronautics and Space Administration. They have collected on ships of the 

 Scripps Institution for Oceanography, the University of Miami Institute of 

 Marine Sciences, the Johns Hopkins University Oceanography Department, the 

 Columbia University's Lamont Geological Observatory, and the U.S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. The Institution's level of effort for oceanography in fiscal 

 year 1966 will be about $1,400,000 ($800,000 appropriation and $600,000 estimated 

 from grants and contracts) . 



As the legal repository for collections made with Federal funds the Institution 

 receives collections from the Coast Guard, the Geological Survey, the Bureau of 

 Sports Fisheries and Wildlife, the Navy Department, the Army Coastal Engi- 

 neering Research Center, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Public Health 

 Service, the Department of State, and other agencies as well as from those 

 listed in earlier paragraphs. 



In its new role the Institution not only actively collects specimens and passively 

 receives and stores them, but plays a part in the planning and staffing of 

 expeditions. Although this role is new in this century and in oceanography, the 

 Institution provided such expeditionary services as equipment and instructions 

 for collecting and staff participation in most of the expeditions opening up the 

 Western United States in the 1850's and for some years thereafter. The recent 

 development in oceanography is thus a new application of the traditional 

 activities of the Institution. 



The Institution plans and supplies labels for expeditions; sends instructions 

 for special collecting procedures ; suggests and supplies preservatives, containers, 

 packaging, and shipping procedures ; subsidizes the shipping costs and provides 

 a distribution center for subshipmeut in the United States; and, sends junior 

 staff members on collecting expeditions with senior staff members of this and 

 other agencies and institutions to provide the maximum return of specimens for 

 the money invested. 



The concern of the Institution with collections extends to the equipment used. 

 In order to study the populations of organisms of the ocean, it is necessary to use 

 quantitative measures of abundance. Acute awareness exists of the primitive 

 state of instrumentation for marine population evaluations. Wherever and 

 whenever possible the Institution encourages the activities of any public or 

 private agency to engage in the improvement of equipment for collecting use. 

 It utilizes experimental equipment and participates in evaluations of its effec- 

 tiveness. It offers counting and other srevices for instrument testing. It consults 



