904 
of excellence which will be attractive locations 
for industries specializing in marine science 
and technology. 
In 1966, the people of Chatham County 
(Savannah), Georgia voted nine-to-one favor 
of a $3.6 million bond issue to build a bridge 
to Skidaway [sland where the state planned to 
develop the Ocean Science Center of the 
Atlantic. Today, the bridge and the center 
are taking shape. 
In 1968, the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill instituted a Curricul 
in Marine Sciences leading to the M. S. and 
Ph. D. degrees, jointly with North Carolina 
State University. 
The Commission intends to foster and 
augment these activities. 
The Region has numerous Department 
of Defense installation=. st most of them 
are basic training camps which have a re- 
latively small impact on the Regional economy 
Although the Navy spends more than half of 
the Federal Marine Science funds, little of 
this money is spent inthe Region. By exploit- 
ing favorable environmental characteristics 
and using public funds as » =atalyst, the Com- 
mission intends to demonstrate to private 
enterprise and to the Federal government that 
much more of the nation's essential marine 
research and development should be performe 
in the Coastal Plains Region. it could be done 
there as well as anywhere else, and doing it 
there will spur the economy of a lagging re- 
gion. 
All of these activities will be accom- 
panied with s&pcialized training programs and 
public information activities, so that the 
people of the Region will have a greater appre- 
ciation of the marine environment and will be 
able to acquire the skills they will need to 
exploit it more fully. 
The Commission on December 19, 1968 
approved a Resolution on Marine Resources 
which the Advisory Committee had recommend 
ed. Two of these actions concerned this re- 
search and development effort. The other two 
concerned a Marine Use Profile of the Region 
anda study of ite mineral potential. 
The Commission granted $39, 090 to 
each state for a comprehensive marine ro- 
sources development study. These studies 
consist of two phases. The first is an inven- 
tory of the personnel, prossrams, and facilities 
now employed in marine research and develop 
ment. Vhe second phase is a set of recorn- 
mendations for the improvement and expan- 
sion of these programs and facilities. 
More than twenty marine research 
laboratories already exist in the Region. 
Most of them are small and little coordination 
exists among them. 
The Coastal Plains Regional Commission 
decided to create an Institute for Marine 
Development Services in order to: 
o Facilitate communications among the 
Region's scientists and institutions 
engaged in research and educational 
efforts relating to marine resources , 
o Communicate the results of marine 
research and development activities, 
in order to increase the technological 
proficiency of the private sector of 
the Region's economy, 
o Maintain constant liaison between the 
Commission and the work that is tak- 
ing place in marine research and 
development, 
o Assess periodically the effectiveness 
of the Region's research and develop- 
ment programs and activities in 
marine resources, and 
o Advise the Commission concerning 
actions required to close the income 
gap by exploiting marine resources, 
In carrying out these functions, the 
Institute will conduct conferences, seminars, 
and workshops and publish relevant materi- 
als. Consulting services are provided to 
institutions in the Region in the process of 
devdloping research and education programs. 
