NMFS and its Centers sponsor many programs. Among these are 

 MARMAP — Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction, 

 which is jointly sponsored by FAO; OFW — Operation Fish Watch, a pro- 

 gram to take monthly surveys of seafood prices in 10 U.S. cities; 

 SAFE — Stock Assessment and Fishery Investigations, a cooperative 

 project of the La Jolla, Calif. Laboratory and the California Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game; CALL — Communications Alert and Liaison System, 

 to gather and document pertinent information when there is a question 

 as to whether fishery products are linked to a public health problem; 

 a Platform of Opportunity (POO) or Ships of Opportunity Program 

 (SOOP), operated in conjunction with the Maritime Admininstration to 

 use volunteer observers to collect data where U.S. fishing fleets 

 operate (the data will then be added to an all-seasons data base of 

 temperatures and salinity at all depths); and PRIME — Processing, 

 Research, Inspection, and Marine Extension — a mobile laboratory for 

 on-site inspection of seafood processing plants. 



It operates the Fishery Statistics Data Base (FSDB), a partially 

 automated data base with information and data about commercial fisher- 

 ies, fishery landings, and fishery management. It administers the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 and the Endangered Species 

 Act (ESA) of 1973 in so far as marine life and their ecosystems are 

 concerned. It developed the Towed Optical Assessment Device (TOAD) 

 for fishery research. 



370. OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: ORD 



Three major components constitute ORD: the Environmental Re- 

 search Laboratories (ERL), the Office of Ocean Engineering (OCE), 

 and the Office of Sea Grant (OSG). They are described separately in 

 entries 371 through 373. 



371. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES: ERL 



Antecedents of NOAA's Environmental Research Laboratories are 

 the former Central Radio Propagation Laboratory and certain research 

 functions of the Weather Bureau and the Coastal Geodetic Survey, 

 which formed the Institutes for Environmental Research (lER) in the 

 Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). Later known 

 as ESSA's Research Laboratories, with the formation of NOAA in 1970 

 these activities were renamed the Environmental Research Laboratories. 



ERL, through its several laboratories, is a principal research and 

 development arm of NOAA. It is responsible for performing fundamental 

 scientific investigations designed to improve the understanding of the 

 environment. It coordinates NOAA's activities in a program called 

 Rational Use of the Sea Floor (RUSEF), in the Spilled Oil Research 

 Team (SOR) and the Spilled Oil Response Team (SORT). The latter, 

 which includes members from several other NOAA components and from 

 other agencies, is called upon to investigate environmental conditions 

 when oil is spilled in the sea. 



ERL is responsible for the Marine Ecosystems Analysis (MESA) pro- 

 gram created in 1973 to perform physical, geological, chemical, and 

 biological research to assess the human impact on specific marine 

 environments and to develop the capability to predict environmental 

 consequences of proposed changes. The MESA program is currently being 

 conducted in two areas: the New York Bight (NYB) and Puget Sound. 

 Expanded Water Column Characterization (XWCC) cruised are being made 

 in the NYB. 



In 1970 ERL inherited the Marine Minerals Technology Center (MMTC) 

 from the Department of the Interior. MMTC was abolished, but before 

 it ceased to exist it participated in the 1973 New England Offshore 

 Mining Environmental Study (NOMES), a cooperative program with other 



74 



