college, Seat Grant regional consortium, or any other 
institution of higher education in the United States, 
to enhance the research and development capabilities 
of developing foreign nations, and promote the inter- 
national exchange of information and data with 
respect to ocean and coastal resources. This program 
will encourage the research and development of, and 
technology transfer to, developing countries. The 
Congress enacted the amendment to improve scien- 
tific cooperation between developing foreign nations, 
and their institutions of higher education, with those 
of the United States. 
The Sea Grant Program has been innovative in 
providing institutional support to universities having 
the capabilities to deal broadly with marine and 
coastal zone issues and in providing information 
needed by States, local governments, and the fishing, 
recreation, offshore oil, and other marine-related 
industries. Deficiencies in the Sea Grant Program, 
however, were identified by NACOA in its Sixth 
Annual Report published in June 1976. One of these 
was that while Sea Grant has been useful in respond- 
ing to local and regional needs, its resources were 
not available to assist in solving broader national and 
international problems. NACOA also expressed the 
view that there was often a lack of coordination 
between Sea Grant programs and other elements of 
NOAA and other Federal agencies. NACOA raised 
questions about the Sea Grant advisory and pro- 
posal review structures, and it recommended that, in 
addition to funding increases required to keep pace 
with inflation, the Sea Grant budget be increased 
from $23 million in fiscal year 1976 to $40 million 
within a few years. 
Other NOAA Marine Research Programs 
The NOAA system of Environmental Research 
Laboratories and other NOAA elements are involved 
in a variety of research activities. These projects in- 
clude studies of coastal and deep-ocean physical, 
chemical, geological, and biological oceanography. 
Two major multidisciplinary programs are included 
in these efforts: the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Pro- 
gram and the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental 
Assessment Program. Both of these programs are 
discussed in chapter VI. NOAA fisheries research is 
discussed in chapter III. 
Navy Ocean Science Program 
The Navy Ocean Science Program is the oldest 
Federal program supporting basic marine research at 
the universities. Throughout the 1950s and much of 
the 1960s, Navy support of university ocean research 
exceeded that of NSF. Today, it remains the second 
largest program supporting university R&D. The goal 
of the Navy Ocean Science Program is to provide the 
basis of knowledge needed about the oceans to sup- 
port the Navy’s national defense mission. The Navy 
has long recognized the value of basic research in 
areas of Navy interest and the contribution such re- 
search can make to the continued improvement of 
the Navy’s defense posture. Consequently, Navy ef- 
forts in ocean science contribute not only to the 
Navy’s primary mission, but add to the fund of basic 
knowledge used to advance toward broad social, 
economic, and scientific goals. 
Navy ocean science responds to long-range require- 
ments determined by the Director for Defense Re- 
search and Engineering. University research in the 
ocean science program is supported primarily by the 
Office of Naval Research (ONR). The content of the 
program is reviewed annually and adjusted in accord- 
ance with projected Navy requirements. Contracts for 
research are awarded in response to unsolicited pro- 
posals. Such proposals are evaluated cn their rele- 
vance to Navy needs, scientific quality, the compe- 
tence of the investigator, and the facilities available 
for the proposed research. The Ocean Science Pro- 
gram is discipline-oriented and encompasses physical 
and chemical oceanography, marine ecology and geo- 
physics, oceanic biology, ocean technology (described 
earlier), and underwater acoustics. 
The purpose of the physical oceanography program 
is to improve the understanding of open-ocean 
physical processes. This work is of fundamental inter- 
est to the scientific community and necessary to en- 
vironmental prediction needed for a wide variety of 
civil activities as well as for Naval operations. Physi- 
cal oceanographers have now identified the major 
factors affecting oceanic variability such as western 
boundary currents, mesoscale eddies, and internal 
waves. The Navy research program is now concen- 
trating on studies of the processes whereby energy 
enters the ocean, generates ocean variables, and is 
transferred through the water before being dissipated. 
An understanding of these processes and of energy 
transfer rates is essential in progress towards the 
ability to make accurate oceanic forecasts. 
The chemical oceanography program is closely 
linked to the Navy’s fundamental research in oceanic 
biology, marine geology, and acoustics. Chemical 
oceanography is concentrated in three general prob- 
lem areas: (1) assessing processes and mechanisms 
that govern the inorganic composition of seawater; 
(2) determining chemical fluxes through the marine 
environment, including air-sea and sediment-sea ex- 
changes; and (3) gauging the impact of life processes 
VIT-28 
