632 
proposed to include NOAA in the Commerce Department, because 
the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), which 
was already a part of the Commerce Department, would constitute 
about 70 percent of the dollars and 80 percent of the personnel 
of NOAA. 
The following organizations were transferred to NOAA, following 
its establishment on October 3, 1970: 
Environmental Science Services Administration (Commerce) 
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Marine Game Fish Research 
Program, and Marine Minerals Technology Center (Interior) 
National Oceanographic Data Center and National Oceano- 
graphic Instrumentation Center (Navy) 
National Buoy Program (Coast Guard) 
National Sea Grant Program (NSF) 
Elements of the U.S. Lake Survey (Corps of Engineers) 
The mission of NOAA is:18 
Explore, map, and chart the global ocean and its living 
resources; 
Manage, use, and conserve those resources; 
Describe, monitor, and predict conditions in the atmosphere, 
ocean, Sun, and space environment; 
Issue warnings against impending destructive natural events; 
Develop beneficial methods of environmental modification; and 
Assess the consequences of inadvertent environmental modifica- 
tion over a period of time. 
THE CREATION OF NACOA 
The Stratton Commission also recommended the establishment of 
a committee to (1) advise the head of NOAA in carrying out his 
functions and coordinating responsibilities, and (2) report to the Pre- 
sident and Congress on the progress of Government and private pro- 
grams in achieving the objectives of the national programs. The com- 
mittee was to be composed of individuals drawn from outside the 
Federal Government and broadly representative of the Nation’s marine 
and atmospheric interests.'!® Following the advice of the Stratton Com- 
mission, Congress established the National Advisory Committee on 
Oceans and Atmosphere (NACOA) by Public Law 92-125, on August 
16, 1971. NACOA is composed of 25 members, drawn from State 
and local government, industry, science, and other non-Federal areas. 
Its responsibilities include a continuing review of the progress of the 
marine and atmospheric science and service programs of the United 
States, and advising the Secretary of Commerce with respect to carry- 
ing out the purposes of NOAA. NACOA is required to submit a 
comprehensive annual report to the President and to Congress setting 
forth an overall assessment of these matters. 
'7U.S. General Accounting Office. ‘The Need for a National Ocean Program and Plan.”’ Washing- 
ton, 1975, p. 9. 
8 Ibid., p. 9. 
18Qur Nation and the Sea, op. cit., p. 245. 
