Ocean Resources, Regulation, 
and Research 
NACOA returns here to the question of how to organize best for national man- 
agement of our ocean affairs. The appropriate organization, NACOA believes, 
is shaped by the changing nature of current activities in the marine environment 
which reflects a greater need to mediate between the sea and its users. While 
NACOA has expressed preference for amalgamating oceanic functions within a 
Department of Energy and Natural Resources, alternatives are available, such as 
within an existing Department, or as an independent agency. But the form is 
less crucial than the need to take action now. For the Nation’s good, Marine 
Resource Management, Marine Resource Regulation, and Marine Resource 
Research must be provided an organizational setting that enhances their marine 
orientation and relates them in a way which keeps them mutually supportive 
without being subordinated to each other. Care will have to be taken to accom- 
plish this without disrupting the performance of these functions in their tradi- 
tional land-oriented context. We believe that the urgency of meeting long- 
neglected marine needs justifies the attempt. 
NACOA last year advocated greater centralization in the Federal man- 
agement of the Nation’s ocean and atmospheric affairs. This advocacy did 
not prove persuasive to officials and legislators preoccupied with the 
energy problem. Even though many recognized that what was happening 
in energy was a preview of coming events for other natural resources, the 
new organizational arrangements which they sought reflected terrestrial 
preconceptions. We have in mind Administration bills to establish a Depart- 
ment of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) introduced in both 
Houses after we went to press last year, and which were notable for their 
lack of a suitable marine focus. 
The prospects for the DENR legislation have faded in favor of energy- 
related issues and we do not yet see new organizational initiatives for deal- 
ing adequately with marine affairs, including those related to energy 
resources. Only in the Senate is there forward movement in this regard. 
Senate Resolution 222, passed unanimously in February of this year, 
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