644 
bring a freshness of outlook and freedom of action difficult to 
achieve in an existing department. Its greater public visibility 
would draw stronger public interest and support. The head of 
an independent agency would be better able to organize the agen- 
cy’s activities to achieve the multiple purposes of a national ocean 
program than would an officer of a larger organization in which 
other interests are represented and perhaps dominant. He also 
would be favorably positioned to assist the President in the coor- 
dination of those technical and operational activities of other 
Federal agencies which relate directly to the marine mission. 
Furthermore no existing department now has sufficiently broad 
responsibilities to embrace the full scope of functions proposed 
for NOAA or to accommodate all of the organizations which 
the Commission believes should be brought into the new agency.® 
The rationale for reorganizing ocean activities along the functional 
lines suggested by NACOA becomes clear when surveying the func- 
tions of the various Federal agencies with responsibilities in the 
oceans. 
In the area of research and data collection, NOAA is clearly the 
lead agency. It shares surveying functions with the U.S. Geological 
Survey and to some extent with the Coast Guard, the Corps of En- 
gineers, and NASA (from the support point of view). NOAA and 
the National Science Foundation share the leading role in ocean 
research. 
In the area of development and management of living resources, 
NOAA shares general management responsibilities with the Depart- 
‘ment of the Interior (Fish and Wildlife Service). Development and 
management of nonliving resources is shared with the Bureau of Land 
Management and the U.S. Geological Survey. While NOAA (within 
the Federal Government) has general management responsibilities for 
the Coastal Zone, it shares responsibility with the Corps of Engineers, 
the National Park Service, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, and 
the Coast Guard. Management of navigation is primarily the task 
of the Coast Guard, with some responsibilities exercised by the Corps 
of Engineers. NOAA serves only as the supplier of scientific and 
chart information in support of navigation. 
In general, there is no lead agency. Although national policy in 
these areas is evolving rapidly, there is no ocean-oriented agency 
to carry them out; instead, the management of nonliving resources 
of the oceans has revolved around the major land management agen- 
cies serving this function on the continental areas of the United States. 
There are a wide variety of Federal agencies with regulatory activi- 
ties in the oceans. NOAA has no really significant regulatory functions 
for either living or nonliving resources. The Coast Guard enforces 
fisheries agreements; EPA is the main regulator of pollutants in the 
ocean; the USGS has the main postlease regulatory responsibility with 
respect to drilling and producing oil and gas from the Continental 
Shelf; the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard have ancillary 
permit authorities related to these functions; the Nuclear Regulatory 
Agency and the Coast Guard have regulatory roles related to nuclear 
powered submarines and off-shore nulcear power plants; and the Corps 
of Engineers has permit authority in dumping of dredged materials 
in coastal waters. 
48 Our Nation and the Sea, op. cit., pp. 232-233. 
