fostering appropriate studies and investigations; and making an 

 annual review of the Federal Ocean Program (FOP) and budget. In 

 1976 ICMSE was replaced by the Committee on Atmosphere and Oceans 

 (CAO). CAO, a part of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, 

 Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) in the Office of Science and 

 Technology Policy, consists of two subcommittees, one responsible 

 for oceans and the other for the atmosphere. The latter succeeded 

 to the activities of the former Interdepartmental Committee for 

 Atmospheric Sciences (ICAS) established in the FCST in 1959. 



Other interagency bodies of interest are the Interagency Arctic 

 Coordinating Committee (lARCC), established in FCST in 1968 to coord- 

 inated Federal research in the Arctic; the Committee on Earth Resour- 

 ces Satellite Systems (CERSS) established in 1977; the Interagency 

 Committee on World Weather Programs (ICWWP) established to coordinate 

 U.S. participation in the World Weather Watch (WWW) and the Global 

 Atmospheric Research Program (GARP); the Advisory Committee on the 

 Law of the Sea (ACLOS) established to review the U.S. position at 

 the U.N. Law of the Sea Conference (UNCLOS); and the Interagency 

 Committee on Marine Environmental Prediction (ICMAREP) established 

 to coordinate the basic Marine Environmental Prediction Service 

 (MAREP) involving a composite of interagency activities specified by 

 formal and informal agreements. 



362. COUNCILS 



The Water Resources Council (WRC), established in 1965 and com- 

 posed of heads of selected Federal departments with major interests 

 in water resources and associate members from other agencies with 

 peripheral interests in management of water resources, has cognizance 

 over the activities of the several Federal-State river basin commis- 

 sions. Those commissions that have some marine science related activ- 

 ities, particularly in the estuarine areas, are the Delaware River 

 Basin Commission (DRBC), established in 1961; the Great Lakes Basin 

 Commission (GLBC) , established in 1967; the New England River Basin 

 Commission (NERBC); and the Pacific Northwest River Basin Commission 

 (PNWRBC). All are concerned with estuarine research, pollution con- 

 trol measures, conservation of resources, and long-range planning. 



363. INTERDEPARTMENTAL BOARDS 



The Board on Geographic Names (BGN), originally established in 

 the Department of Interior in 1890 as the United States Geographic 

 Board and renamed the Board on Geographic Names in 1934, was made an 

 interdepartmental agency in 1968. Its primary function is to promote 

 the standardization of geographic names; it serves both military and 

 civilian agencies. 



Executive Departments 



364. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: DOC 



The largest civilian agency with marine science activities, DOC 

 includes NOAA and the Maritime Administration (MARAD). Its National 

 Bureau of Standards (NBS) and National Technical Information Service 

 (NTIS) provide services of value to marine scientists. These four 

 agencies are described further in entries 365 through 379. Its Bureau 

 of the Census (BC) and Bureau of Economic Analyses (BEA) have peri- 

 pheral interests as together they are compiling estimates of the 

 volume of pollutants emitted into the environment. 



Departmental secretaries may establish advisory committees to 

 serve their interests and the interests of the agencies or bureaus they 

 supervise. The Secretaries of Commerce have established the Marine 



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