1998 Year of the Ocean Marine Education U.S.A.: An Overview 



History on Penikase Island, Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts. There, the teachers, who were all 

 women, stayed in a dormitory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and studied local marine life 

 while learning new techniques using microscopes and dissection instruments. This represented a 

 new, hands-on approach for pre-college education. Indeed, the study of science was just being 

 introduced in schools at this time. 



Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 and became a part of the 

 University of California, Los Angeles in 1912. During the first half of the 20th century, virtually 

 all the U.S. oceanographers were trained at this institute . It remains a cornerstone of leadership 

 and research in the oceanographic community and in higher education. Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution was originally a marine biological laboratory and did not offer 

 graduate degrees until the post- World War II era. In fact, the other leading institutions of higher 

 education in oceanography did not play a significant role until after World War II. 



World War II was a major milestone in marine science and education. Of course, many 

 people went to sea for the first time. Sea warfare, especially submarines and aircraft carriers, 

 created new strategic ocean-related needs. In 1942, the last single volume (1,087 pages) was 

 published containing everything known about oceanography. The Oceans, by H.U. Sverdrup, 

 Martin W. Johnson, and Richard H. Fleming. The field of oceanography has grown 

 geometrically since then. 



The deep dives by Andreas Rechnitzer, Don Walsh (both U.S. Navy) and Jacques Piccard 

 in the bathyscaph, Trieste, captured the American pride in 1959 and 1960 after the cultural shock 

 of Sputnik in 1958. These dives, the first television shows by Jacques Cousteau, and the 

 emerging theory of plate tectonics raised the awareness level of the American public. A new 

 exploratory submarine, Alvin, was launched. Amidst the excitement, many new ideas emerged. 

 Three had special significance for marine science and education. One was the theory of plate 

 tectonics, which forced a rewriting of textbooks at all levels, and a new general understanding of 

 why earthquakes occur and why they occur where they do. A second idea came from Dr. Carl 

 Hubbs at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He thought a facility that would bring people in 

 proximity to whales could prove educational. Thus, the idea for Sea World came to fruition with 

 private sector support. Third, Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus, an eminent scientist, thought that the 

 United States should enact a Sea Grant Act patterned after the Land Grant Act but focused on the 

 sea. With support from the new Dean of the School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode 

 Island, John Knauss, Senator Claiborne Pell, and many others, the Sea Grant Act was enacted in 

 1966. 



The period of 1969-1974 was a time for a call to action in the environmental arena.. It 

 was during this time that the Environmental Science and Services Administration, later to 

 become the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was established. 

 Notable legislation enacted included: the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act; the National Coastal Zone Management Act; the Marine Protection, Research 

 and Sanctuaries Act; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; and the Clean Air Act. It was also 

 during this period that the U.S. Envirormiental Protection Administration (EPA) was created. 



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