body of knowledge, it will always be difficult to ascertain when the es- 

 tuaries are beginning to undergo some deleterious change as a result 

 of man's influence. So if we do have a baseline of information avail- 

 able, we can then begin to assess the kind and degress of changes that 

 may be occurring;. 



The Smithsonian Institution, and particularly its oceanography pro- 

 gram, might be likened to a kind of national reference library. Within 

 the Smithsonian Institution, there are presently 70 marine- oriented 

 scientists among our faculty ; the combination of a national collection 

 and the intellectual resources provide a kind of national referral cen- 

 ter that can be utilized by members of the scientific comunity whether 

 they reside in academic institutions or within the Federal K. & D. 

 agencies. 



I am sure you all recognize there are approximately 500,000 species 

 of aquatic plants and animals that we know about. And I am pleased to 

 say that within the Smithsonian Institution collection the vast majority 

 of those species are represented in our reference collection, including 

 "types" of species where the specimens, along with the ancillary data 

 that has been gathered, provide a national reference resource for sci- 

 entists and technologists. 



I should also say that the identification of organisms is a most time- 

 consuming chore and collection-oriented institutions throughout the 

 country and the world have two imperative problems. One, how do we 

 go about replenishing the very limited supply of systematists and tax- 

 onomists who have to make use — and forgive my jocular statements — ■ 

 of their Mark I eyeballs and Mark I brains to carefully, assiduously 

 identify and classify these organisms so they can be used by scientists 

 and technologists aiming at exploiting the resources of the sea. 



Unfortunately, this time-honored profession of taxonomy is not 

 one of the so-called popular sciences of today. Nonetheless, as our 

 national aspirations in oceanography go forward, if they are to be 

 realized, we must have an increased intellectual resource in taxonomy 

 to provide basic descriptive marine biological and limnological infor- 

 mation. At the same time we must realize that the need is increasing, 

 but that the training of systematists is falling further and further 

 behind. 



In toto, our science-oriented museums represent the principal re- 

 source for taxonomists, for the training of taxonomists and for the 

 training of technicians to assist in this time-consuming chore of 

 identification. 



Without going into great detail, I should like to highlight some of 

 the things the Smithsonian Institution is presently engaged in, in this 

 broad area we call oceanography. 



One, in response to recognition of the need to produce more taxo- 

 nomic information, and to produce it more rapidly, the Smithsonian 

 Institution established in December 1962 the Smithsonian Oceano- 

 graphic Sorting Center. The Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting 

 Center is essentially a kind of national resource for the collection, 

 preservation, processing, and ultimately, identification of marine or- 

 ganisms, the results of which are then distributed to scientists and tech- 

 nologists throughout the country and throughout the world. 



In the process of implementing the SOSC, as we call the sorting 

 center, there has been a very fortunate byproduct. Recognizing that 



