NATIONAL MARINE SCIENCES PROGRAM 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1967 



House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Oceanography of the 

 Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 



Washington, D.C . 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a.m., in room 1334, 

 Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Alton Lennon, chairman of 

 the subcommittee, presiding. 



Mr. Lennon. The meeting will please come to order. 



This morning we are privileged to hear from Rear Adm. Odale D. 

 Waters, Oceanographer of the Navy, who will present testimony con- 

 cerning the Navy's activities in oceanography and marine sciences. I 

 think we all have a right to anticipate that Admiral Waters' testi- 

 mony will be among the most important which we have received. 



The Nation's oceanographic activities are many and varied and, 

 from the dollar standpoint or budgetwise, comprise about 60 percent 

 of the total program. 



During the testimony of both Dr. Wenk who, as all of you knov^^, 

 is the Executive Secretary of the National Council on Marine Re- 

 sources and Engineering Development, and Dr. Stratton, who is the 

 Chairman of the Presidential Commission, questions were raised con- 

 cerning the so-called Malta proposal, that is, the request by the Gov- 

 ernment of Malta for the inclusion of a supplementary item in the 

 agenda of the 22cl session of the United Nations concerning "The 

 reservation exclusively for peaceful purposes of the seabed and of the 

 ocean floor underlying the seas beyond the limitation of present na- 

 tional jurisdiction and the use of their resources in the interests of 

 mankind." 



In view of the fact that the Marine Resources and Engineering- 

 Development Act of 1966 called for a comprehensive study of the 

 problems arising out of the management, use, development, and con- 

 trol of the marine environment, members of this committee have felt 

 and expressed great concern over the Maltese proposal. They feel that 

 it is unwise and, at this time at least, premature for serious considera- 

 tion to be given to this sort of proposal, at a time when the nature and 

 the magnitude of the problems of the deep oceans are only beginning 

 to be studied, much less understood. 



In view of the convening of the 22d session of the General Assembly 

 of the United Nations today, I felt it important that the subcommittee 

 be advised promptly of the background of this situation and the U.S. 

 position in regard thereto. 



Accordingly, I have asked Admiral Waters' indulgence that we may 

 go into executive session at 11 :15 when we will hear from Dr. Edward 



(87) 



