activities which will carry out the Nation's interest in marine re- 

 sources because of the large cajDital investments needed and the 

 private enterprise role in resources development. 



• Maintaining an extensive and deep understanding of the marine re- 

 source objectives and activities of other nations, and working ef- 

 fectively in the international arena in accordance with national policy 

 because of the enonnous potential marine affairs has for international 

 cooperation or conflict. 



• Supporting and managing large-scale oceangoing and atmospheric 

 facilities and experiments because of the nature ot the ocean environ- 

 ment, its physical coupling with the atmosphere, and the essentially 

 global extent of both. 



• Establishing regional foci when necessary and working with the States 

 because of the inherent local nature of many marine resource-related 

 coastal problems. 



• Maintaining a working relationship with universities and other re- 

 search and development institutions through grants and contracts 

 because of their large role in the conduct of oceanographic and 

 atmospheric research and educational programs. 



Two final attributes that we consider essential : 



• The administrative levels for marine and atmospheric resource man- 

 agement responsibility should be commensurate with the administra- 

 tive level for the management of land resources. 



• The Department must coordinate its programs with the essential 

 oceanic and atmospheric missions of other agencies such as those in 

 the Depaitment of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, 

 and the National Science Foundation. 



RECAPITULATION 



NACOA concurs with ad\ocates of a greater centralization and more 

 effective leadership of the Federal activities in natural resource manage- 

 ment. We support the concept of a Department of Natural Resources 

 along the general lines developed in "Papers Relating to the President's 

 Departmental Reorganization Program" published in February 1972. 



However, we note therein a preoccupation with problems of terrestrial 

 resources development and an inadequate assessment of both the oppor- 

 tunities and problems of developing marine resources. 



These problems involve special relationships between resources and 

 the marine environment quite different from those on land. They produce 

 correspondingly special operating situations and special technological re- 

 quirements as well as vastly more complicated issues of ownership, jurisdic- 

 tion, and law. Although we agree that, at the highest policy and planning 

 levels, the role of marine resoinces must be developed in a national re- 



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