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very tragic thing. If it had happened in summertime, it would have 
cost me a lot of political support. 
Mr. Train. If I may interject, I think you were the first one to alert 
me of that particular accident and spillage and the national contin- 
gency plan was involved immediately as I recall. 
Mr. Kerrrn. Yes. You see in that case the lack of an SOP showed 
clearly. I called you at around 1:10. The tugboat captain came to see 
me and said that he spoke from the stranded vessel to the harbormaster 
on shore in Falmouth at around 11:30 p.m. and the harbormaster in 
turn was reported to have advised the Coast Guard, whose response 
was that they would come by at 7:30 in the morning, at dawn. I don’t 
know what the true facts are, but this has been related to me. 
There ought to be a standing operating procedure. Another incident 
that raised this question was the oil-leak case in the Catalina Channel. 
The Coast Guard was not eager to send people out there to learn at 
firsthand how to handle this, so that there could be available a res- 
ervoir of personnel that knew how to handle such cases. 
At Chapaquoit, the two officers that were on the beach at 12 o’clock 
at night when I got there had had very little experience in this matter, 
although the press indicated that a team with some expertise had gone 
out from the Federal Water Pollution Control] Administration in your 
department. The Coast Guard, I think, is the lead agency in handling 
the seaward aspects of such spills. 
I would say that the State of Massachusetts and your agency did 
seem to be functioning very well. I think this incident shows that we 
do have a great responsibility as to the licensing of tugboat operators, 
and: perhaps inspection as well. I don’t believe this particular tugboat 
had a depth finder. Its radio was not functioning and there was no- 
body on the barge. 
These are the practical matters which we, as Congressmen, have to 
consider. Besides dealing at the policy level, our constituents really 
expect us to do something about these problems after we have done all 
this talking. A recent editorial indicates that Keith had said this could 
happen ever since he went to the Torrey Canyon in 1967, 1968, and 
1969—but nothing has been done. 
It is not very complimentary to me, to this committee, to the Con- 
gress or to the agencies. 
Now, here are just a few other things. 
Your department has talked about the fisheries problem. Inciden- 
tally, the increase in dollar volume of of a catch is deceptive. When I 
first came down here scallops were 27 cents a pound. Now they are $1 
a pound. So that increase in dollar volume doesn’t necessarily mean a 
thing. é 
Tavcenavional affairs have been mentioned. As Paul Rogers said, the 
space agency has forged ahead. The cost-benefit ratio in the field of 
oceanography as contrasted to space, it seems to me, should be our 
saving grace. We can point to a much greater possibility of reward to 
our Nation and to the world from the sea than from the planets. 
- Another point is the Weather Bureau. Our fisheries are dependent 
upon that, and so are our resort industries as are many others. Yester- 
day we had a spokesman from Commerce, which has the Weather Bu- 
