■ I. ■INTRODUCTION 



The recent growth of international cooperation in 

 oceanography is largely due to the work of UNESCO and the 

 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) . The Commission 

 was launched under the auspices of UNESCO in i960 and currently 

 includes fifty member governments. The purpose of the Commission 

 is to promote scientific investigation of the nature and 

 resources of the world ocean through the concerted efforts of 

 its members. IOC's recently drafted General Scientific 

 Framework for World Ocean Study further emphasizes that "inter- 

 national cooperation in science is not an end in itself , but 

 serves other ends. It should be undertaken only when the sum 

 of scientific, political, and economic benefits exceeds the 

 cost. These benefits cannot be separated in practice. 

 Scientific cooperation will not be effective for any purpose 

 unless it is good science, yet governments are unlikely to 

 support it unless it serves economic and political purposes, 

 as well as scientific ones." 



In bringing together the oceanographers of many countries, 

 IOC has focused attention on oceanographic problems individual 

 nations are unable to solve alone. The Commission has also 

 been concerned with international problems of data exchange, 

 standardization of equipment, intercalibration of techniques, 

 allocation. of radio frequencies for oceanographic use, exchange 

 of scientists, and other problems fundamental to successful 

 international coordination and cooperation. 



5 



