Oceanic and Atmospheric Monitoring. Although the present 

 governmental and nongovernmental international organizations 

 have served well in facilitating collaboration on marine science 

 problems, the pace of research and exploration is steadily in- 

 creasing. It was concluded that an intergovernmental organiza- 

 tion dealing with ocean matters would ultimately have to be 

 established by treaty and given adequate authority, personnel, 

 and financial resources. The Commission was unable to deter- 

 mine whether it would be better to establish an additional body 

 by raising the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission 

 (IOC) to the status of a specialized agency or to form a new 

 body incorporating the functions of existing bodies. It did, how- 

 ever, suggest that formation of NOAA would lend impetus to 

 the latter solution. 



Marine Research. Within the existing international frame- 

 work, it is very difficult to conduct marine research programs 

 on the global basis which many require. The necessity of deal- 

 ing with coastal nations because of restrictions in the exclusive 

 fisheries zone and the requirements of the Convention of the 

 Continental Shelf greatly retards scientific investigations. 



The Commission recommended that the U. S. take the 

 initiative in proposing a new convention embodying the follow- 

 ing provisions: 



— scientific research can be conducted in any territorial 

 waters and on the continental shelf without prior con- 

 sent provided that notification is given in sufficient time 

 to allow the coastal nation to decide if it wants to par- 

 ticipate, and provided that the results are published 

 — fisheries research may be conducted in any exclusive 



fisheries zone under the conditions listed above 

 — research submersibles may be used in any territorial 

 waters even if they do not navigate on the surface pro- 

 vided that the coastal nation is notified in enough time 

 to assure safety of navigation 

 — research buoys may be placed in any territorial waters 

 and shall be protected against unwarranted interference 

 if they meet reasonable requirements specified by the 

 coastal nations 

 In the interim, the report proposed that the U. S. seek to 

 enter into bilateral and regional agreements embodying the 

 above recommendations and take other initiatives to encour- 

 age freedom of scientific research and international scientific 

 cooperation. 



Additional Commission Recommendations 



Science and Technology 



The Commission noted that there were no strong civil 

 marine technology programs as there are for marine science, 

 and suggested that inadequate technology was limiting "big 



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