134 
period of time was, that there were a number of very critical ques- 
tions still unanswered. 
The answer that I must give you is that we will use whatever 
resources we have available to address these particular problems. 
The approach that we are taking in the 1983 budget is to begin to 
focus on the fundamental problems that involve the addition of 
particulates and chemical substances to the ocean through a better 
understanding of the chemistry of the ocean and the physics of the 
environment into which these materials are added. 
Mr. D’Amours. From fiscal year 1982 to fiscal year 1983 your 
budget is being cut about 60 percent, right? 
Dr. ByRNE. The 1982 budget—— 
Mr. D’Amours. Your research budget? 
Dr. ByRNE. I was going to address it strictly from the pollution 
aspect. Would you repeat the question? 
Mr. D’Amours. Is it true that your research budget—research re- 
lated to ocean disposal to be more specific—is being cut about 60 
percent? 
Dr. ByRNE. I would say of the order of 50 percent. I do not know 
what figures you have at your disposal. 
Mr. D’Amours. I have an internal NACOA document of about 
February 19 which says 60 percent. 
Dr. ByRNE. We would be prepared to give you the specific figures 
for 1981 and 1982 and the proposed for 1983 if these would be help- 
ful. But, yes, I think that is about the right order of magnitude. 
Mr. D’Amours. Well, given that large cut, whether it is 50 or 60 
percent, do you think that you can do the kind of research that we 
need in a timely fashion? 
Dr. ByRNE. Well, as I tried to answer, I am not sure that we can 
do all the research that is necessary in a timely fashion. I think I 
indicated that we would take the resources that are available to us 
and provide as much focus on this problem as we possibly can. 
If we can define the questions that need to be answered specifi- 
cally, we can make an assessment and probably come much closer 
in predicting where we would be with respect to those specific ques- 
tions. 
Mr. D’Amours. OK. Mr. Studds earlier had questioned EPA and 
got into the concept of the ocean’s assimilative capacity. Does 
NOAA believe that there is sufficient scientific information availa- 
ble to apply the assimilative capacity concept on a practical man- 
agement basis? 
Dr. Byrne. Again, that is a difficult question to answer. We find 
as we investigate the problem, that for certain substances we do 
have answers that we did not have a few years ago. For the total 
assimilative capacity of the ocean, for all of the materials that we 
attempt to put in it, I doubt that we will ever have the answer. So, 
it is a matter of the degree to which the knowledge-base will serve 
us with respect to implementing regulations. 
In the absence of knowledge, in the face of ignorance, I think 
that we frequently—and probably wisely—take a conservative posi- 
tion where we, in a sense, I hesitate to use the term, but in a sense 
overprotect, which I think is the wise position. Then, as the knowl- 
edge-base increases, as we learn more and more about the sub- 
stances and their interactions with the ocean, the regulations are 
