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and part (7) to “encourage private enterprise in the exploration of the marine 
environment, including the development, construction, testing and operation of 
vehicles and associated equipment ;”’. 
Within government, the essential function of a lead agency to conduct the 
national oceanic and atmospheric program should be to organize and coordinate 
activities devoted to the advancement of mankind’s knowledge and operational 
capability in the ocean spaces and environment. We concur in the Stratton Com- 
mission’s conclusion that “the new agency should be composed of organizational 
elements concerned primarily with scientific, technical and service functions 
necessary for expanding planned use of the sea and its resources, for monitoring 
and predicting the total air-sea environment, and for exploring the feasibility 
and consequences of environmental modification.” This statement is as important 
for what it does not include in the NOAA as for what it does include. It would 
properly vest the agency with a focus of purpose on expanding the frontiers of 
knowledge. 
However, we believe it was not the intent of the Stratton Commission nor flees 
it appear to be the intent of H.R. 13247 to transfer to the agency all of the Federal 
Government’s oceanographie affairs. We believe that careful consideration 
should be given to the principle espoused by the Commission of separating the 
innovative research, development and services activities from the management 
of statutory law and the regulation of commerce in the ocean spaces. We think 
this distinction should be noted and preserved, and that, generally, the regulation 
of commercial activity should remain the responsibility of the government agen- 
cies already charged with those responsibilities. 
It is not NOA’s intent to give the impression that we are experts in either 
government organization or reorganization. We are not. However, many of us 
have had experience in the organizational structures of business enterprises and 
the problems accompanying any reorganization. We have found that there is no 
final ultimate organizational format, but that it must continually be adjusted 
because of external developments. We have also found that at any one moment 
of time, there are innumerable considerations concerning the location, mix, and 
timing for a reorganization. We make our decisions based on the confidence that 
the long-term gains offset the short-term costs. 
The NOA joins the Stratton Commission and this subcommittee’s belief that 
ocean activities deserve a higher priority on the Nation’s agenda. There is still 
the acknowledged vital need today for a grouping of major civilian oceanic func- 
tions and we do not consider it necessary to await the results of the report of the 
President’s Advisory Council on Government Organization to see how oceanog- 
raphy fits into the broad context of the Federal organizational structure. NOAA, 
as contemplated in H.R. 13247, can certainly be made a component of whatever 
broader reorganization may be ultimately achieved. 
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like, on behalf of NOA, to thank you 
and the members of the subcommittee for allowing us to present our views on 
this important bill. 
Tuer NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY ASSOCIATION 
A CITIZENS’ ORGANIZATION FOR A STRONG NATIONAL OCEAN PROGRAM 
REPRESENTING INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC 
Purpose 
The American public has a great stake in the optimum multiple uses of the 
oceans. For example, our national security, supply of mineral resources, recrea- 
tional opportunities, availability of low-cost protein from fish, quality of coastal 
and Great Lakes’ environments, knowledge about the earth’s formation and 
improved weather forecasting will all be affected by the strength of our national 
ocean effort. 
The National Oceanography Association’s purpose is to encourage develop- 
ment of a strong national ocean program to realize the potential of the seas. A 
strong national program will have maximum participation by private enterprise, 
appropriate governmental support and scientific and academic participation. 
The association, with its varied educational and legislative programs, fills the 
oceanography community’s need for a national voice representing a cross-section 
of interests. 
Program of action 
Association activities reflect its broad composition. The NOA program concen- 
trates on these principal areas: 
