433 



as the Commission has concluded. However, at this point, the council 

 is not prepared to specify further either the details of makeup or the 

 operating' base or home of this agency. 



The council wishes to point out that, despite the frequent usage of 

 and emphasis on the words oceanography or oceanology in the rej^orts 

 of past commissions and committee — ^NAS-NRC Committee on 

 Oceanography, PSAC, and the National Council on Marine Resources 

 and Engineering Development, for example— and the present 

 COMSER document, the ultimate justification for all this activity is 

 the need that the people of the United States have, and their authorized 

 representatives and institutions, to know more about the marine en- 

 vironment, its resources, and their innate requirements and capabili- 

 ties, the marine resource-based needs of the United States and its 

 political and legal entities and activities and the problems associated 

 with their use, development, and preservation. 



If I can interject here, working for the past 10 years with the Gen- 

 eral Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia and attempting to 

 work with the Congress to persuade both bodies to allow us to invest 

 more funds in research, in advisory services, and in development of 

 management skills, it has become clear to me that while the Congress 

 and while the general assembly are interested in the fact that I, as an 

 oceanographer, am satisfying some curiosity to learn more about the 

 marine environment, in reality, I believe what the Congress wants 

 and the general assembly wants is hard information to help the execu- 

 tive management agencies as w^ell as the legislative bodies to make 

 wise decisions on the marine resources and their uses and their future. 



So that I think that I am encouraged by the Commission's emphasis 

 on this aspect, on management, on wise management of the marine 

 resources. 



It is on this basis I believe that we ought to attempt to persuade 

 the public to put more funds into oceanography, not because of the 

 innate interest that oceanographers have in oceanography but because 

 of the practical value of the information that we can generate. 



The Council of Maritime States, Commonwealths, and Territories 

 is especially encouraged that the Commission emphasized the impor- 

 tance of the coastal zone — ^tlie area where sea and land merge and 

 where the greatest direct benefits accrue and damages occur. 



We concur with the Commission that greater attention must be given 

 to the tidal rivers, estuaries, bays, and bights of the coastal zone and 

 the adjacent Continental Shelf and slope areas of the high seas. 



We must also express agreement with the Commission's insistence 

 that local governments have primary responsibility for management 

 of the affairs and resources of the coastal zone, excluding much of the 

 navigation, commerce, and defense which are recognized to be national 

 in character and, hence, a responsibility shared with or assigned to 

 the Federal Government. 



The concepts of coastal zone authorities as centers for coastal zone 

 management and planning activities and coastal zone laboratories as 

 centers for coastal zone research, advisory services, and associated edu- 

 cational activities are interesting and should be encouraged. 



In our opinion these are two of the most valuable contributions that 

 the Commission's report has made, that is, in accordance with the 



