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natural resources — a fact recognized by the number of maritime nations having 

 aggressive research programs. Development of the resources and ultimate use 

 and exploitation of the ocean can only be brought about through the groundwork 

 of basic research. Today, there is not yet enough knowledge about the seas. 



Beginning from this deliberately planned intensification of effort 

 in fiscal year 1960, NSF has moved steadily ahead in support of ocean 

 science. In that year, onr total investment, including fellowships, re- 

 search grants and facility grants amounted to approximately $8 mil- 

 lion. In fiscal year 1968, our plans call for an investment of about 

 $37 million. Attachment 1 depicts our trend in funds for oceanography 

 from fiscal year 1960 to fiscal year 1968. 



The Foundation's current program in oceanography is in three prhi- 

 cipal areas, basic research (and associated facilities), education, and 

 the National Sea Grant progTam. Your committee discussed the latter 

 with Mr. Eobert Abel, head of our Office of Sea Grant Programs, on 

 September 22, 1967. Therefore, I assume that we may omit discussion 

 of it today. I would like to summarize our programs in the basic re- 

 search and educational areas. 



I might point out that in addition to these programs, we support 

 work in scientific information under our Office of Science Information 

 Services that relates to the marine sciences, and that our Office of 

 International Science Activities has programs which relate to the 

 field of marine sciences. 



Our basic research is divided into the following categories : 



I. Basic research project support. 



(A) Biological oceanography. 



(B) Physical oceanography. 



(C) Supj)ort of ship operations. 



II. Specialized research facilities. 



III. National research programs. 



(A) U.S. Antarctic research program. 



(B) Ocean sediment coring program. 



Biological oceanogi'aphy covers the whole range of biological phe- 

 nomena in the sea, from biophysical events in cells and the comparative 

 physiology and behavior of whole organisms to the organization of 

 marine populations and communities. Its main focus, nowadays, is on 

 the ocean as an ecosystem. This approach to the sea as a living system 

 has opened up a vast new area for exploration that will ultimately give 

 us more powerful insights into the potentialities of the sea as a source 

 of food and other useful products. 



Limnology, which is the study of lakes, is concerned with the same 

 processes on a smaller scale in fresh water. The limnology of the Great 

 Lakes is simply the "oceanography" of large freshwater bodies, but 

 smaller la.kes present different problems and are studied by different 

 methods. Research programs on lakes in every State are inexpensive 

 testing grounds for oceanographic ideas and provide marine science 

 with a constant stream of recruits at every level. This interchange of 

 ideas and people between sea and inland waters is a two-way aff'air. 

 A large fraction of the Foundation's support for biological oceanog- 

 raphy, and some of its support for physical and geological oceanog- 

 raphy, is actually devoted to limnology. 



