643 
the practicalities of enforcement, are consistent with the real 
world; 
That the potentialities of the future and the difficulties of the 
present are worked at by an associate research arm; and 
That research can find its balance in the operation of its sister 
divisions.“ 
For the Nation’s good, marine resource development, marine 
resource regulation, and marine resource research must be pro- 
vided an organizational setting that enhances their marine orienta- 
tion and relates them in a way which keeps them mutually suppor- 
tive without being subordinated to each other. Care will have 
to be taken to accomplish this without disrupting the performance 
of these functions in their traditional land-oriented context. We 
believe that the urgency of meeting long-neglected marine needs 
justifies the attempt.* 
The NACOA report concluded that the reason for suggesting an 
integrated tripartite arrangement of resource management, regulation, 
and research is that none can survive and work healthily without 
contact with the other two, and none could work in the full public 
interest were any of them subordinated to the others.*® 
NACOA maintains that the failure to recognize this is in part 
responsible for as number of imbalances in the present Federal pro- 
gram. For example, there is a commercial fisheries program in the 
Government that is strong in science and advisory services but weak 
in national fisheries development strategy; and an ocean engineering 
industry which during the 1960’s developed, with Government en- 
couragement, extensive underwater technology under the mistaken im- 
pression that Government was going to expand its support of marine 
resource development.*” | 
Bringing most of the civilian ocean activities and the Coast Guard 
into one independent agency organized along the functional lines 
proposed by NACOA would remove many of those obstacles. In addi- 
tion, an independent agency would be equipped to focus on its mission 
without conflict with other interests of a parent agency or department. 
It would facilitate funding of programs which are now components 
of other departments, which are not primarily ocean-oriented, pro- 
grams consequently more vulnerable to budget cuts when budget cuts 
are in order. An independent agency is more flexible than an agency 
tied to a department. It can formulate its needs and programs without 
the necessity to accommodate the policy conflicts it is likely to en- 
counter in a larger agency. It is more visible in the public eye, thereby 
creating a more active constituency of interested and knowledgeable 
persons. Finally, it will be able to organize directly in response to 
the needs of the ocean. The Stratton report in 1969 fully supported 
the concept of an independent agency for the oceans, and foresaw 
the following benefits: 
Especially getting a major diverse effort underway, the case 
for independent status is compelling. An independent agency can 
44Tbid., pp. 18, 19. 
4 Ibid., p. 13. 
46 Tbid., p. 19. 
‘TIbid., p. 11. 
