177 



own personnel are not aboard to act or advise in collecting operations, should 

 provide instructions for proper handling and preservation of collections, so 

 that they w^ill be of maximal scientific value. 



The Institution should continue its policy of employing and supporting spe- 

 cialists in other institutions, especially where the work to be done is such as to 

 require only part-time effort. 



Adequate study of some materials collected by the oceanographic program will 

 require study of related materials from freshwater and land. 



The responsibilities of the Smithsonian Institution in relation to the National 

 Oceanographic Program, will require large increases in its oceanographic buctget. 

 During the next decade its professional staff for the oceanographic program 

 should increase by about 125 people, with at least an equal number of technical 

 assistants, and necessary clerical and other supporting services For salaries, 

 expenses, supplies, and normal equipment for their support the annual budget 

 (in 1962 dollars) at this level would be about $4 x 10*. Capital investment fir 

 construction of space to house these people and the collections, and for space 

 for visiting investigators, and for special equipment will amount to about 

 $3 X 10" to $5 X 10", depending on whether new or converted structures are 

 utilized. 



Funds will also be required for vessel charter, for special collections by the 

 Museum staff, for support of contracts with other institutions, for investigations 

 at other museums (both foreign and domestic), for scholarships and fellow- 

 ships, and for the sorting center. Such funding would be in addition to the 

 amounts suggested. 



In their 1965 report, "Industry and the Ocean, Continental Shelf," 

 the Ocean Science and Technology Advisory Committee of the Na- 

 tional Security Industrial Association recommended that — 



The Smithsonian Institution should be responsible for the processing, storage, 

 and distribution of all geological, biological specimens resulting from the Na- 

 tional Oceanographic Program. 



A report, "Effective Use of the Sea," was issued in June 1966, by the 

 Panel of Oceanography of the President's Science Advisory Commit- 

 tee. It makes the following statements : 



Recommendations with regard to marine biology affect both the long-range 

 goal of increasing marine food resources and preserving the near-shore environ- 

 ment. Specific recommendations are : 



1. Intensive multidisciplinary studies of biological communities in marine 

 habitats subject to human influence and exploitation. Such studies should include 

 estuaries and the continental shelf. A very important, special case is the proposed 

 sea level canal to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 



2. Establishment of marine wilderness preserves to provide a baseline for 

 future studies. 



3. Construction of facilities needed for studying organisms in special marine 

 environments such as the deep sea and tropics. 



4. Increased encouragement and support of identification and use of marine 

 organisms as tools for biomedical research and as potential sources of drugs. 



5. Establishment of a national center for collection, maintenance, and distribu- 

 tion of living marine organisms for use in marine and biological research. 



In answer to this report, we now have acquired a tract of approxi- 

 mately 900 acres of land bordering on the western shore of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay, and it is our intention in concert at present with two 

 universities, the Johns Hopkins University and the University of 

 Maryland, to develop a long-term program of what we call baseline 

 estuarine ecology where scientists can join together and over an ex- 

 tended period of time begin to ascertain some of the fundamental 

 dynamics in the interchanges between the land mass and a \-ery un- 

 stable body of water that we usually call an estuary. 



Unless we establish this kind of, shall we call it baseline, ecology or 

 ecological frame of reference, unless we do establish this fundamental 



