12 



To provide a more effective attack on large-scale scientific problems, the Com- 

 mission proposes that a small group of institutions, including the present leaders 

 in ocean research, be designated as University-National Laboratories and equipped 

 to undertake major marine tasks of global or regional nature. Coastal Labora- 

 tories also should be established in association with universities in each of the 

 coastal states and aided in developing adequate facilities and continuing programs 

 in coastal engineering and ecological research. Institutional support for these 

 two categories of laboratories must be supplemented by research grants to 

 individual scientists engaged in valuable basic research both in these laboratories 

 and elsewhere throughout the nation in order to maintain highly desirable diver- 

 sity in the total enterprise. 



A national program to advance fundamental marine technology should em- 

 phasize activities basic to a wide variety of potential applications and be supported 

 by NOAA through grants and contracts to industry and universities. Many 

 fields of technology must be significantly advanced before the Nation can achieve 

 the goals proposed by the Commission: to be able to perform productive work for 

 sustained periods at depths to 2,000 feet and to have useful access to depths 

 of 20,000 feet. They include materials technology, power sources, external machin- 

 ery, tools, navigation systems, instruments, mooring and anchoring systems, 

 life support systems, and improved data on environmental effects and biomedical 

 phenomena. 



National Projects are proposed to focus the effort on specific areas of need and 

 opportunity, to impart a sense of priority, to involve actively a variety of groups, 

 to provide the facilities needed to test the economic and technical feasibility of 

 new systems, and to put technology at the service of scientific research and re- 

 source exploration. Six such projects, listed in Attachment 1, are specifically 

 recommended in the report; others are identified for further consideration. 



The U.S. Navy has a key role in advancing national capability and should' 

 work in tandem with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. As Navy 

 mission requirements permit, provision should be made for other agencies to use 

 Navy facilities on a reimbursable basis. Opportunities to spin off civil applica- 

 tions from defense projects should be identified. However, civil and military 

 interests and priorities will not always coincide, and a national program cannot 

 rest solely on Department of Defense-supported efforts. 



The Commission anticipates that the proposed national effort will generate its- 

 own personnel, principally through transfer from other specialties but also through 

 increased enrollment in marine education and training programs. Expanded sup- 

 port through NSF and NOAA will be needed, but the Commission's principal 

 recommendation is that NOAA be assigned responsibility to analyze trends in 

 manpower requirements in all marine fields, project future requirements, and' 

 coordinate Federal agency marine education and training activities. 



The Coastal Zone 



The coastal zone presents both some of the Nation's most urgent environmental 

 problems and most immediate and tangible opportunities for improvement. The- 

 Commission considers this zone to embrace the territorial sea. Great Lakes, tidal 

 areas, and those port and harbor facilities, recreational areas, and commericaL 

 and industrial sites which are dependent on the seas and Great Lakes. Coastal 

 counties include roughly half of the Nation's people and its most rapidly growing: 

 urban areas. It is the area in which industry, trade, recreation and conservation 

 interests, waste disposal, and potentially aquaculture all press most sharply on the- 

 limited resources of our environment. 



The Commission finds the key need in the coastal zone to be a management 

 system which will permit conscious and informed choices among development 

 alternatives and which will provide for proper planning. The Federal Government 

 can help in establishing such a system, but the primary responsibility lies with the ■ 

 States. 



The Commission proposes enactment of a Coastal Management Act to estab- 

 iish policy guidelines, authorize matching grants-in-aid to States to develop and 

 Implement a management plan, specify Federal responsibilities for review of State 

 plans, and provide a means for coordinating Federal and State activities and for ■ 

 planning the development and use of areas lying beyond State jurisdiction. Al- 

 though the Act should allow the States considerable latitude in shaping their 

 coastal programs, it is essential that the State Authorities be able to exercise 

 impartial judgment in weighing problems arising from conflicting use and be- 

 equipped with planning and regulatory authority (including in typical cases- 

 authority for zoning and eminent domain) adequate to their task. 



