NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 113 
Commander Nreren. Mr. Chairman, it all depends on what we are 
looking for. There is such a tremendous spectrum of properties we 
want to sample that a ship of opportunity would not have—for exam- 
ple, gravity meters, magnetometers, and this type of equipment. 
Mr. Rocrrs. Would it be difficult to get that on these ships ? 
Commander Nycren. It would be extremely difficult to get that on 
there in the numbers required and with the staff that is required. It 
is difficult to get it on the survey ships we have now, much less the 
hundreds of ships of opportunity. However, some properties such 
as sea-surface temperatures which are significant, are easily obtained 
by this method and soundings to a certain extent are useful when ob- 
tained from competent mariners. 
This information is coming in and is being utilized. 
Mr. Rogers. You feel it is beimg done to the utmost ? 
Commander Nyeren. No, sir; I think we can do more and I think 
we are doing more. This is one of the problems actively attacked 
right now. 
Mr. Rocrers. Where is the difficulty in getting the equipment to put 
on ships of opportunity? Where would that bottleneck be? 
Commander Nyeren. Part of it was the availability of the equip- 
ment itself. It has been going through a developmental process of 
various types. The Navy now has some equipment designed for this 
program which could better be described by somebody from the Navy. 
I understand the program has come along quite well and when this 
has passed through the developmental phase and goes into production, 
they will be ready to go into full-scale operation with it. 
Mr. Rocers. For instance, who has the responsibility of contacting 
the oil companies, the ships that are making these surveys? Where 
does that responsibility lie? 
Commander Nyeren. This is being handled by two different agen- 
cies who are interested at the present time. The Navy, I understand, 
has an exchange agreement with these companies but this was worked 
out with the Society of Geophysical—the SEG, Society of Explora- 
tion Geophysicists. This exchange agreement could be discussed a 
little better by somebody from the Navy. 
Mr. Rogers. All right. 
Commander Nycren. Within the Coast Survey, we have put the 
responsibility on regional offices to contact the geophysical companies 
in their areas and find out what their holdings are, where the quality 
is, and what their capabilities are. As I mentioned, we have contacted 
16 companies in the last year and a half to find out what they have. 
Mr. Rocxrrs. I understood you had gone through some of their files 
ut not 
Commander Nyeren. It is in various degrees, yes. We have con- 
tacted 16 companies on this matter. 
Mr. Roczrs. Does that, in effect, cover the major companies involved, 
these 16 you mentioned ? 
Commander Nreren. It may cover the major ones, but by no means 
covers all of them. This program is continuing. This is a standing 
order and going on at the present time. 
There are many problems involved, such as the fact many companies 
will not turn loose data. It is, perhaps, of a proprietary nature, or 
procured under contractual terms that do not permit them to do this, 
