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(The letter referred to follows:) 



The Johns Hopkins Univeksity, 



Baltimore, Md., May 19, 1969. 

 Hon. Alton Lennon, 



Chairman, Subcommittee on Oceanography, Committee on Merchant Marime and 



Fisheries, House of Representatives, Longworth Office Building, Washvng- 



ton, B.C. 



Dear Congressman Lennon: The members of the Council of Oceanographic 



Laboratory Directors appreciate this opportunity to comment for the record on 



their reactions to the recently published report of the Commission on Marine 



Sciences, Engineering and Resources. This council consists of directors of the 



following major oceanographic institutions of the United States : 



Dr. Jonh Byrne, Department of Oceanography, Oregon State University. 

 Dr. Maurice Bwing, Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University. 

 Dr. Paul Fye, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



Dr. Richard A. Geyer, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M Uni- 

 versity. 



Dr. John Knauss, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode 

 Island. 



Dr. W. iNierenberg, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of 

 California. 



Dr. Donald W. Pritchard, Chesapeake Bay Institute, The Johns Hopkins 

 University. 



Dr. M. Rattray, Department of Oceanography, University of Washington 

 at Seattle. 



Dr. F. G. Walton Smith, Institute of Marine Science, University of Miami. 

 Dr. George P. Woollard, Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii. 

 The directors have given this report serious study and consideration. We agree 

 in principle with the conclusions and the recommendations submitted with respect 

 to the action required to meet the urgent and growing demands incumbent upon 

 oceanogi-aphie institutions. These must be implemented if the marine resources 

 of this Nation are to continue to be developed in a manner befitting 

 the national interest. We are becoming increasingly concerned with the level 

 of support given to oceanographic institutions during the past several years for 

 reasons documented in previous testimony submitted to your Committee. If the 

 present essentially level funding to the institutions that has existed over the past 

 several years is continued, it will become impossible for them to meet their funda- 

 mental commitments to the Nation. These include supplying the necessary basic 

 information and pure research results that are imperative as a foundation for 

 solving problems in oceanography, in such areas as defense and the development 

 of marine resources. Simultaneously, the institutions will not have the capability 

 in terms of ships, staff, and shore based facilities to train adequately the ever- 

 growing numbers of highly qualified graduate oceanographers required to imple- 

 ment the expanding programs. These programs are essential to develop our 

 marine resources and to solve defense problems vital to our Nation. 



It is for these reasons that we specifically endorse the Commission's recom- 

 mendations in the following areas : 



1. The concept of a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency to 

 serve as a major focal point on which to build the expanding National 

 Oceanographic Program necessary to the Nation's interest. 



2. The concept of supporting a series of University/National Laboratories 

 so that the goals and objectives suggested for them by the Commission be 

 achieved. 



3. The concept of strengthening existing and adding new Coastal Labora- 

 tories in numbers suflficient to solve the many pressing problems of immediate 

 urgency existing now in the coastal and estuarine zones of the United States. 



The highlighting of these three recommendations is not to be construed that 

 many others in the Report, particularly those closely relating to these areas, are 

 not also of prime importance to the total National Oceanographic Program. These 

 were selected at this time because of their extreme pertinence and urgency for 

 implementation. The mechanism must be provideid soon to carry out satisfactorily 

 these recommendations, with all their limplications ; otherwise it will become 

 wirtually impossible to expect that the Nation will be able even to meet its 



