Introduction 



Fragmentation vs. focus, fire-fighting vs. planning — these were the issues 

 which this year turned NACOA inward and away from the international 

 aspects of oceanic and atmospheric affairs it dealt with in last year's Annual 

 Report. The theme which runs through most sections of this Report is 

 about organization for the management of marine and atmospheric 

 affairs and what the lack of such organization does in certain critical areas. 



The impact of the budget cutbacks and restraints on oceanic and at- 

 mospheric programs has been subtle rather than abrupt, but it has had a 

 distorting efTect on programs and has resulted, in some instances, in a 

 reduction of services which NACOA feels are important to the national 

 interest. Momentum is being lost. We face the future with less assurance 

 than we did last year at this time. NACOA notes, in not one place but in 

 several, a dispersal of management and a withdrawal of support from 

 important long-range centralized endeavours which could result in trouble 

 down the road. 



NACOA feels that this fragmentation, and this withdrawal of support 

 from some long-range programs and their facilities, may have occurred 

 because a natural sponsorship for resource management — the oceans and 

 the atmosphere are resources — does not exist. The old backing is weaken- 

 ing, for oceanic affairs especially, as missions and problems change and 

 budgets go flat or down. Nothing is taking its place even though the na- 

 tional need in ocean affairs grows larger. 



For this reason NACOA deals with organizing, in the development and 

 conservation of natural resources, for the better management of the Na- 

 tion's oceanic and atmospheric endeavours. The generalities and sugges- 

 tions for a functional arrangement are made in the first chapter. Some 

 specific cases and arguments are in succeeding chapters: 



• Lack of sponsorship may slow or warp the rational development of 

 offshore energy resources with its delicate balance between essential 



