102 



Several years ago, the U.S. Navy entered into a bilateral agreement 

 with the Secretary of the Interior to jointly conduct research in the 

 oceans to their mutual advantage. A copy of this agreement is at- 

 tached to appendix 5. 



Electronic links between the BCF Fishery-Oceanography Center 

 at La Jolla and the Navy's Fleet Numerical Weather Center at Mon- 

 terey permit FNWC to rapidly integrate data from BCF vessels and 

 to provide them with computer drawn sea surface temperature charts. 



This has proven to be of great importance to the tuna fleet and re- 

 cently won a special commendation from the Marine Technology So- 

 ciety. In fact, it was so good after the first year of operation that 

 those areas that are not indicated as potential areas by these charts 

 developed poor fishing and conversely. The tuna fleet now is con- 

 vinced of the utility of this program. That is a phenomenal develop- 

 ment in oceanography, may I say. 



The Departments of the Navy and Interior are now engaged in a 

 study to determine the feasibility of obtaining meaningful oceano- 

 graphic data from satellites and the applications of these data to pre- 

 diction systems for biological, physical, and chemical oceanographic 

 phenomena. 



My opinion is that to remove this Bureau from the Department 

 of Interior would be a disastrous backward step. 



I have certain recommendations to make which I believe should 

 be considered as a constructive alternate to the recommendation of 

 the Commission which would establish NOAA. 



These are : 



1. The Coast Guard should not be removed from the Department of 

 Transportation. 



Serious consideration should be given to creating in the Coast Guard, 

 the responsibility of the operation and maintenance of all vessels 

 (above a certain size) owned and operated by the civilian branch of 

 the Federal Government. 



This, of course, would not apply to federally owned vessels on bail- 

 ment to institutions. The experience of MSTS has been so outstanding 

 for the Navy, costwise as well as flexabilitywise, that it should be con- 

 sidered by the civilian arm of the Government. 



2. The officer corps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey should 

 be phased out. 



These personnel should be surveyors, engineers, or scientists — not 

 master mariners! 



3. The Department of Interior should be strengthened by making it 

 the Federal Department of Environmental Sciences by a reorganiza- 

 tion as follows : 



(a) Transferring the Weather Bureau to the Department of 

 Interior from the Department of Commerce. 



The Weather Bureau is the only lacking element of the total 

 environment under the cognizance of the Department of Interior ; 

 and 



(h) Transferring to the Department of Interior, the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey and combining it with the Geological Survey. 



4. ESSA should be abolished and its radio propagation functions 

 transferred elsewhere, probably back to the Bureau of Standards 

 whence it came. 



