1S2 



One or two teclmical points in your testimony. You referred to the 

 presence of fresh water aquifers off the Florida coast. What is being 

 done to exploit or explore those areas ? 



Dr. Cain. To my knowledge, they are not now exploited. They have 

 been discovered. The same thing is true around certain of the Hawaiian 

 Islands where very considerable fresh water resources are available. I 

 do not believe there is any exploitation as of yet. 



Mr. Eeinecke. Is anything planned ? 



Dr. Cain. Dr. James, can you answer that, please ? 



Dr. Harold James (Chief Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey). 

 There are no immediate plans for utilization of the fresh water that has 

 been found offshore off Florida and off Hawaii. It is important, I 

 think, that we know the budget of the fresh water and laiow what is 

 being lost to the ocean, and whether it could be used if necessary. 



Mr. Reinecke. There is reason to think there is fresh water off the 

 coast of southern California, and we would like to find out more about 

 this. I would like to know what else the Department has planned along 

 that line. 



You have a very strong program, Dr. Cain. Do you feel Interior is in 

 a position to adopt a lead position with respect to the overall govern- 

 mental oceanographic program ? 



Dr. Cain. In several connections we have made the statement that 

 we in Interior feel that Interior is the Government's principal con- 

 servation organization, and what we mean by conservation is the 

 principal resources management organization, for civilian purposes. 

 There are several bases for this. 



The first is the responsibilities which, through more than a century, 

 have been assigned to the Department of the Interior by Congress, 

 responsibilities with respect to research and management of natural 

 resources. 



The second is that we have in most of these regards the largest staff 

 of scientific and technical people operating in these fields, which is 

 certainly true in geology, and many aspects of geophysics. It is cer- 

 tainly true in the biology of fisheries. It is true in a great many cases. 

 We feel that we are naturally and historically in a lead position with 

 respect to the general matter of marine resources. 



Mr. Reinecke. Do you have any liaison between Interior and any 

 other department except through the Council ? 



Dr. Cain. Yes, indeed. The most recent one that is pertinent is a 

 memorandum of understanding signed about 2 months ago by Secre- 

 tary Eesor for the Army and Secretary Udall for the Department of 

 the Interior with regard to excavating, dredging, and filling permits 

 which the Corps of Engineers issues on all navigable waters. This is 

 very crucial in the coastal and estuarine waters of the Nation, includ- 

 ing the shallow waters of the Great Lakes. 



We have working arrangements with the Federal Power Commis- 

 sion. We have working arrangements with other agencies for purposes 

 of coordination of activity. Under the Coordination Act we cooperate 

 with the construction agencies, for example. This means a review of 

 plans for dams, harbor development, channel development, all sorts 

 of things that are related to transportation. We have a series of 

 understandings with other departments of Government. We work very 

 closely with the Navy, also, in many scientific ways. 



