234 
Inter- and intraministerial differences are very apparent in the con- 
duct of ocean science research. Scientific research is an important 
component of expanding ocean uses and a great deal of attention 
has been devoted to both selecting the appropriate issues for study 
and the optimal administration of research operations. Offshore oil 
drilling, for example, requires knowledge of a broad range of subjects, 
including geology, wave dynamics, ice conditions, as well as drilling 
platform construction techniques and drilling technology.” 
The management of scientific research and technology is a topic 
in itself. The ongoing discussion between the advantages of centraliza- 
tion and local initiative in the economy as a whole has also occurred 
in the field of ocean research. Ocean science research in the Soviet 
Union is dispersed between the various ocean users. Five ministries 
conduct work directly in oceanology and scientific research: The 
Ministry of Defense through the Naval Hydrographic Service, the 
Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet, the Ministry 
of Higher and Specialized Education through university institutes, and 
the Ministry of Geology. The Main Administration of the 
Hydrometeorological Services and the Academy of Sciences also carry 
out ocean research.”? As distinct from other agencies, each ministry 
has responsibility not only for the scientific research institutes of its 
branch, but it also exercises leadership of the design-construction or- 
ganizations, implements the result of the scientific work, and takes 
measures in planning coordination, and financing the work.®® Ministries 
have subordinate scientific councils for forecasting important 
economic and social changes.*! 
The difficulty of coordinating interministerial work is compounded 
by the significant autonomy of research institutes within the various 
ministries in planning and conducting research operations and in pur- 
suit of their self-interest. Soviet press articles periodically appear that 
both praise the quality of scientific research and its organization and 
criticize the broad latitude exercised by individual institutes. Scientific 
research organizations are viewed as important contributors in assisting 
the planning process. They conduct basic research and submit recom- 
mendations on future development.®? The central ministries, as well 
as the State Committee for Science and Technology, the Academy 
of Sciences, and Gosplan exert coordinating powers in an attempt 
to deal with the determination of directions, avoid duplication of 
efforts, and facilitate the exchange of information. Management func- 
tions in science and technology are also shared by Gosstroi, Gossnab, 
and others.*? 
78M. I. Klenova, ‘‘Fifty Years of Soviet Marine Geology,’ Oceanology, no. 5 (1971) p. 708 lists 
some of the institutes participating in marine geologic research. 
7) For further information on the ocean research structure see Robert D. Plunkett, ““Okeanologiia,” 
Oceans, July 1969, pp. 49-57. 
89M. I. Piskotin, V. A. Rassudovskii, M. P. Ring (Academy of Sciences U.S.S.R., Institute of State 
and Law), Organizatsionnopravovye voprosy rukovodstva naukoi v_ sssr [Organizational-Legal 
Questions of Science Management in the U.S.S.R.] (Moscow: Nauka, 1973), pp. 133, 243. 
*'Ibid., p. 222. A further description of scientific research work in the ministries is also found in R. 
Amann, M. J. Berry and R. W. Davies, ‘Science and Industry in the U.S.S.R.,”" in Zaleski, et al. 
“Science Policy in the U.S.S.R.” (Paris: OECD, 1969), pp. 403-4. 
*? See the interview with A. Larina (director of the Soiuzmorniiproekt Institute), “‘For effectiveness 
of science,’ Vodnyi Transport, January 10, 1974. Larina states that working out the ‘General 
Scheme of Merchant Marine Development” is the most important problem in the institute and that 
the main orientation in the third quarter will be to complete proposals for merchant marine develop- 
ment 1976-1980. 
83 Organizatsionno-pravovye voprosy, pp. 170-87. Gallagher and Spielman note that the Secretariat 
Department for Science and Higher Education acts as the party watchdog on science matters, pp. 
92-3. 
