Summary of Findings and Recommendations 



I. INTRODUCTION 



Our understanding of the oceans is severely 

 limited. The imperatives of our time, however, 

 dictate that we turn to the oceans to seek 

 solutions to problems which are acute today and 

 which will become more intensified. The panel has 

 sought to clarify the present state of basic marine 

 science and to assess its relationship to the 

 Nation's needs as a step toward the formulation of 

 a coherent National policy designed to serve not 

 only the needs of the hour but those of the future. 

 The panel is impressed with the way the marine 

 science enterprise has been conducted but it also 

 finds a need for change. The ways of the past and 

 present cannot meet the needs of the future. 



A lack of understanding of marine processes 

 constitutes a bar to action on programs vital to 

 National needs. National security, resource require- 

 ments, the protection and welfare of the pubUc, 

 and the need to preserve and use effectively 

 marine estuarine and coastal zones all depend 

 fundamentally upon an understanding of the 

 marine environment. 



It is imperative that intellectual and scientific 

 competence be recognized as the touchstone of 

 future greatness. No society can shape the future 

 without it; any great society must be prepared to 

 direct part of its energies to understanding itself 

 and its environment. 



In the light of these circumstances, basic marine 

 science has a legitimate claim upon the Nation's 

 science resources. 



II. THE MARINE SCIENCE ENTERPRISE 

 TODAY 



The marine science enterprise in the United 

 States is vigorous and diversified. Research and 

 development sponsored by the Federal Govern- 

 ment accounted for $249.5 million in Fiscal Year 

 1968, an increase of $55 milhon over FY 1966. 



The Federal agencies principally involved in 

 basic marine science are the National Science 

 Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the 

 Department of the Interior. Other Federal agencies 

 are substantial but smaller participants. 



The enterprise has been growing rapidly. Ex- 

 cept for the National Science Foundation, each 

 Government agency with an interest in the field 

 undertakes mission-related marine science pro- 

 grams. They also maintain in-house laboratories. 



The scientific community is arranged in as 

 complex a manner as the Federal structure with 

 which it is strongly involved. Ocean science is 

 actively pursued in large, small, old, or new 

 institutions, in recognized oceanographic institu- 

 tions, and in classical science departments at 

 universities. 



Scientists applaud the diversity of science fund- 

 ing; but they foresee a need for arrangements to 

 accommodate "big science" and they see no 

 mechanism capable of meeting its demands. 



The marine science enterprise, in short, is 

 healthy, energetic and diversified in comparison 

 with a decade ago. It is beset with the normal 

 strains of a quickly growing field. The panel also 

 finds, however, that current National financial 

 stresses are beginning to inhibit its growth. The 

 period of rapid growth of the first half of the 

 decade of the sixties has stopped. 



III. BASIC SCIENCE-KEY TO UNDERSTAND- 

 ING OUR PLANET 



Our physical home is a composite of interacting 

 earth, sea, sun, and air, and an understanding of the 

 oceans as a major link in the indivisible whole is 

 vital to any real comprehension of the planet. 

 Many of this planet's secrets lie locked in the seas. 



While interest in ocean science has been grow- 

 ing, its origins have been largely pragmatic; hence 

 the pursuit of understanding has been auto- 

 matically relegated to a lower priority in the 

 national effort. Understanding our planetary 

 oceans is a vital goal of the marine science effort. 



Recommendation : 



The Nation should establish as a major goal the 

 advancement of an understanding of the planetary 

 oceans as a principal focus for its basic marine 

 science effort. The proposal by President Johnson 

 for an International Decade of Ocean Exploration 



1-2 



