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opportunity. This is a concept, and I think a very viable concept, of 

 making use of our merchant marine, the something over 700 plat- 

 forms we have plying all of the oceans of the world to participate in 

 the gathering of oceanographic information and in the collection of 

 marine biological and geological materials. 



A number of experiments have been carried out that suggest that 

 this is a practical, feasible, and economical way of gathering oceano- 

 graphic information, thereby relieving some of our limited number 

 of research ships to carry on with fundamental research assignments 

 rather than to be bogged down by routine surveys. 



I should say parenthetically, Mr. Chairman, that this committee and 

 its staff has been largely instrumental in bringing the research ships of 

 opportunity concept into the forefront. 



The Smithsonian Institution hopes to make use of this concept and 

 in fact is presently nBgotiating with the Grace Line in the expectation 

 that some time early next year we will be able to field a party of Smith- 

 sonian scientists and engage in survey work from one of their ships. 



The fact remains, however, that, even though the Navy has pioneered 

 in the development and use of this concept, there is yet to be a full- 

 blown program that makes optimum use of our commercial ships for 

 oceanographic research, and I would hope the day would come when 

 some organization, either public or private, would assume the respon- 

 sibility for providing the necessary instrumentation development and 

 assorted requirements that would make this a really viable practical 

 operation. 



I should also say, as one of our highlights in terms of our contribu- 

 tion to marine biology and oceanography, the Smithsonian Institution 

 since the early forties has been responsible for the management of the 

 Barro Colorado Island biological area which recently has extended its 

 activities and is presently called the Smithsonian Tropical Research 

 Institute. Located in the Canal Zone, it has since 1925 provided a tropi- 

 cal niche for scientists engaged in investigating the biota in the tropics. 



Barro Colorado Island is a preserve and in many ways it could be 

 likened to the Smithsonian's national collection of research specimens. 

 Only in this case, instead of maintaining a national collection of pre- 

 served material, it is a collection of unique tropical flora and fauna on 

 the island which permits scientists again to develop baseline ecology 

 that will serve us well as we go more and more into the tropics, from 

 the political and the economic point of view. 



Most recently the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute estab- 

 lished two small marine laboratories, one on the Caribbean side of the 

 Panama Canal and one on the Pacific side. These laboratories are en- 

 gaged in studies of the genetics of certain marine organisms and Dr. 

 Rubinoff, who is our marine biologist in charge of those laboratories, is 

 presently concerned with determining if species of organisms, certain 

 fishes on the Caribbean, can hybridize, can mate and produce viable 

 offspring when mated with similar species or related species on the 

 Pacific side. 



Our preliminary data suggests they can hybridize and this I suggest 

 has some very profound implications in terms of what ecological 

 changes in the ocean might be produced if there is a connection made 

 between the two oceans. 



