Weather Program to provide a well-coordinated 

 and non-duplicating global ocean-atmosphere 

 monitoring and prediction system. 



III. OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZA- 

 TIONS 



The Food and Agriculture Organization of the 

 United Nations (FAO) is concerned with world 

 fishery problems, and the influence of marine 

 physical parameters on the location and extent of 

 living resources. The FAO Fisheries Division was 

 raised to the status of a department in 1966. The 

 department now has two divisions: Fishery Re- 

 sources and Exploitation, and Fishery Economics 

 and Products. The first is concerned with scientific 

 problems related to the evaluation of living re- 

 sources, their relation to their environment, and 

 with the scientific and technical problems of 

 harvesting and management. It maintains the 

 Fishery Data Center and the other division covers 

 technical aspects of fishery resource utilization, 

 development of statistical systems for resource 

 assessment, fishery- related economic research, and 

 training arrangements. In 1961 FAO estabUshed 

 the Advisory Committee on Marine Resources 

 Research (ACMRR) to advise FAO on marine 

 fishery research, particularly the fishery aspects of 

 oceanographic research; the ACMRR also serves in 

 an advisory role to the IOC. At the Fourth Session 

 of the ACMRR (Rome, Jan. 16-21, 1967) the 

 Working Party on Fishermen's Charts and the Use 

 of Synoptic Data distributed its draft report.^ At 

 the meeting, cooperation between fishing fleet 

 operators and the WMO to secure additional 

 meteorological data at sea was encouraged. 



The International Maritime Consultative Or- 

 ganization, a governmental body, is primarily 

 concerned with safety at sea under the Safety of 

 Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention-within which is 

 included the International Ice Patrol. The opera- 

 tions of the International Ice Patrol are assigned to 

 the United States, with funding shared inter- 

 nationally. IMCO has the responsibility for reduc- 

 ing oil spillages from tankers and other merchant 

 shipping outside national territorial waters, and 

 encourages research and protective measures to 



Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 

 Nations, Advisory Committee on Marine Resources Re- 

 search, Report of ACMRR Working Party on Fishermen's 

 Charts and Utilization of Synoptic Data, FAO Fisheries 

 Reports No. 41, Supp. 2, Rome, Jan. 16-21, 1967. 



reduce such pollution. IMCO also has been active 

 in estabUshing the legal framework for the sta- 

 tioning of floating stations (including buoys) in 

 the open ocean, and cooperates with the WMO in 

 encouraging weather reporting by merchant ves- 

 sels. At its fifth Assembly in October 1967, IMCO 

 adopted a resolution that invited member states to 

 encourage owners and operators of ships sailing 

 under their flag to participate in the voluntary 

 weather reporting programs of the WMO. 



The International Civil Aviation Organization 

 has the "housekeeping" responsibility for the 

 North Atlantic Ocean stations. Eight ships are 

 maintained on station, four of them by the United 

 States, to provide navigational references, and a 

 search and rescue capability, in support of inter- 

 national aviation; the level of each nation's partici- 

 pation is based on its North Atlantic air traffic 

 volume. All ships on station provide routine 

 meteorological and surface oceanographic observa- 

 tions. 



IV. APPRAISAL 



As a result of a review of the activities of the 

 international bodies active in enviroimiental 

 monitoring and prediction, the panel finds that the 

 WMO has extensive "machinery" in operation for 

 the collection of environmental data at sea. The 

 plans of the IOC for the establishment of the 

 IGOSS could result in much duplication of admin- 

 istrative and management mechanisms for the 

 transmission of data in real time. The expendable 

 bathythermograph makes it feasible to consider 

 expanding the merchant ship weather reporting 

 program to include subsurface ocean data. In 

 addition, one of the important needs for ocean 

 data is to improve weather prediction on land as 

 well as sea. 



Some of these pertinent considerations were 

 recently stated in a Report of the Secretary- 

 General of the United Nations Economic and 

 Social Council:" 



Great attention is being given by States mem- 

 bers of WMO to expand the meteorological 

 observational system over the high seas. The cost 

 of this part of the meteorological network and its 

 supporting facilities is very high and the incorpora- 

 tion of certain oceanographic observations in this 



Marine Science and Technology: Survey and Pros- 

 pects, Annex XIII, April 24, 1967, p. 6. 



11-61 



