84 



(The following- letter was received in connection with the fore- 

 going testimony:) 



General Electric Co., 

 Defense Programs Division, 

 Washington, D.C., April 29, 1969, 

 Hon. Alton Lennon, 

 Congress of the United States, 

 Washington, D.C. 



My Dear Congressman Lennon : At this morning's hearing of the Oceanog- 

 raphy Subcommittee the question of national programs in oceanography of other 

 countries was brought up but in my opinion not very well answered. 



I returned recently from Oceanology International '69 in Brighton, England 

 where representatives of a number of countries made presentations on their 

 programs. I have summarized these presentations in outline form. I am enclosing 

 a copy hoping that you will find it useful to the work of your Subcommittee. 

 Respectfully yours. 



Dr. F. E. Elliott, 

 Consulting Oceanographer. 



Some Major Activities in Oceanics in Foreign Countries 



(By F. E. Elliott) 



The infoi*mation was abstracted from presentations given by oflBcials of the 

 various governments at the Oceanology International '69 in Febrtiary, 1969, in 

 Brighton, England. It is the most up-to-date information available. 



In order not to burden the reader with too much detail, information is pre- 

 sented in the form of tables. Nevertheless, it is hoped that it will serve the pur- 

 pose of giving an overall impression of activities in the marine sciences in the 

 Western world. 



Even a quick perusal of the tables shows certain common trends : 



1. In all countries the bulk of the work is carried out by a number of govern- 

 ment agencies. All but Australia have at least one coordinating agency. In other 

 words, these countries have the same problem as the U.S. where the work in 

 marine sciences is divided into more than a dozen agencies. 



2. All countries are concerned with the resources of the continental shelf in 

 particular with oil, gas and minerals. 



3. All countries are also concerned with fisheries. 



Looking at funding it becomes obvious that the U.S. is spending more (about 

 $500 M) than all these countries combined. However, we should put these figures 

 into the proper perspective, keeping in mind that these countries are much 

 smaller than the U.S., have less population and less coast line. If we put the 

 funds on the basis of Gross National Product we get a different picture. For 

 instance the UK is spending about the same proportion of its GNP as the U.S. 



AUSTRALIA 



1. Cognizant organizations : 



a. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Divi- 

 sion of Fisheries and Oceanography. 



b. Hydrographic Service, Royal Australia Navy. 



c. Bureau of Mineral Resources. 



d. Universities. 



e. Industry. 



2. Coordinator : Not available. 



3. Objectives : Oil, gas, minerals, fisheries. 



4. Activities : 



a. Oil: considerable off shore exploration (oil producing wells since 1962) 

 about 60% of continental shelf (IM miles) under lease. 



b. Minerals : deposits of tin, phosphorites, sand about 16% of continental 

 shelf under lease. 



c. General: systematic geologic and bathymetric mapping of continental 

 shelf. 



5. Problems : Shortage of research vessels. 



6. Employment : Not available. 



7. Funding : Not available. 



