with the developers of devices and tools for collection and assists research in such developments. Recently it has become feasible to consider the use of undersea vehicles for evaluation of subsurface populations of organisms and sediments. Scientists from the Institution have participated in familiarization and research dives of Electric Boat's vehicle Asherah (Star II) and of Cousteau's Diving Saucer. Requests have been made for experience with Alvin, Aluminaut, Trieste II, and other existing vehicles as well as for the opportunity to use Seabed I and Seabed II facilities of the Navy as diving bases for marine biological research. It has been reasonably well established that utilization of such facilities for research is most helpful to biologists and geologists and geophysicists; all are within the direct interest and responsibilities of the Institution. The use of these vehicles and similar new devices is restricted only by funding limits. Although the above responsibilities are important, the strength of the Institution lies in its unique competence to gain scientific information from mixed, multiple collections of miscellaneous specimens from the environment. The Institution makes a necessary and basic contribution to any program concerned with the biology and geology of the oceans by establishing the identity of the specimen collected. It provides unique opportunities for the establishment of a program of environmental forecasting by focusing attention of mathematicians on the collections. This function, of course, is not restricted to the marine field. The collections of the Institution are the largest body of reference materials in the world. Something in the order of 30 millions of names have been given to biological specimens. The tedious but essential job of applying the proper name to an unknown specimen is a major effort of the Museum of Natural History. Specimens collected are named and arranged for the convenient reference of scientists and laymen. New objects are described and named, compared with older ones and grouped for convenience and accessibility. Basic premises are developed concerning the relationships of superficially different organisms. Evolutionary trends are described and predicted. Scientists in the Institution produce field guides and monographs of the marine organisms for use in related biological research. Organisms and sediments are studied as they provide information on the abundance of resources for the Bureaus of Commercial Fisheries, Sports Fisheries and Wildlife, Mines, Geological Survey, Parks, and Recreation of the Department of the Interior. The organismal and sedimentary information produced in the Institution is basic to the mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in its search for and predictions of life and conditions on other planets and of survival of life and conditions on other planets and of survival of life support systems on interplanetary missions. Studies of pollution of the seas by the Public Health Service and the National Institutes of Health rest on knowledge of species being obtained by Institution scientists. The Institution studies and stores the pre- and post-Bikini collections of the Navy and the Atomic Energy Commission and it must provide species information for critical tests of environmental pollution by fallout, nuclear explosions, and the operations of nuclear stations, and vehicles. Sound propagation studies of the Navy's Bureau of Ships, Oceanographic Office and Office of Naval Research depend on knowledge of biological species taken from the reference collections, and monographs of the Institution. Fouling and bioluminescence studies basic to the Office of Naval Research, the Maritime Administration, the Coast Guard, the Coast and Geodetic Survey require support and identifications by the Institution. Basic biological and geological research of all agencies of the Federal Government as well as of universities and all private agencies depend to a great degree on the adequacy of reference collections in the Institution and the ability to provide fundamental statements of the relative abundances of organisms in all parts of the world ocean. Only in the National Museum and its State, municipal, and private equivalents is provision made for the long-term maintenance of collections accessible for comparative and cooperative research. This obvious function requires a continuing viable collection-oriented research effort. In organizing the Institution for expanded modern marine research full consideration was given to the support needs of other agencies, and the overall status of biological programing in the Interagency Committee on Oceanography in which the Institution maintains membership. Through its membership in the ICO and chairmanship of the ICO research panel, the Institution has been able to anticipate the needs and become aware of the plans of other agencies in biological and geological research and to direct its own growth to areas consistent with or complementary to the missions of other agencies. The total effort of the Institution has been included in the ICO's national oceanography program, beginning in fiscal year 1963 and is subject to review by the ICO and its panels, as well as by the Federal Council for Science and Technology and the Bureau of the Budget. The unique situation of the Smithsonian constituted by statute as an establishment which administers both Federal appropriations and private funds from endowments, grants, and contracts, has enabled it to maintain the flexibility necessary to accommodate varied public and private interests in its marine program. Funds have been received from the Atomic Energy Commission and the Navy for curating and study of collections made prior to the Bikini experiments. Funds have been received from the Link Foundation for production of a brochure, "Opportunities in Oceanography." With moneys from the U.S. Antarctic research program of the National Science Foundation, the Institution has sent scientists and collections personnel to the Antarctic and processes and records Antarctic collections. A National Science Foundation grant and an ONR contract provide assistance for the sorting and distribution of specimens as a part of the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Assistance from the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Office of Naval Research have helped with sorting and study of collections of the International Cooperative Investigations of the Tropical Atlantic. The Naval Oceanographic Office has helped fund sorting of specimens within its interest. Private individuals have donated sums of money to the Institution for special projects such as fieldwork in marine paleobiology, trips to dive on undersea vehicles, collection of mollusks in the mid-Pacific and collecting in the Caribbean. When called upon by appropriate Federal agencies the Institution has engaged in essential classified marine research supported by the Department of Defense; however, this type of research has never been a substantial percentage of the Institution's program. From the beginning, the Institution has been dedicated to research and involved in educational activities in cooperation with universities and other institutions of higher learning. In the marine sciences a number of the Institution's staff members have participated in educational programs of U.S. universities and have served as experts in foreign educational efforts. Recently, in recognition of the acute shortage of students of taxonomy and of trained systematists, and recognizing the danger of separating scientists from graduate students. the Institution has arranged cooperative programs with several universities, including Duke, Johns Hopkins, Kansas, and George Washington, and contemplates a relationship with many others, to enable the Institution's scientists to train their successors. Although the man-year investment of any one scientist in such activities may be slight, the sum of the activities of the marine scientists will be a significant contribution to graduate education of new systematists and real "insurance" that the national collections are studied. Recruitment of new scientists into the Institution's marine program has been reasonably successful. An outside advisory committee was convened in late 1962 to recommend an appropriate Federal level of effort in the Institution. The committee believed, and that belief is shared in the Institution, that about 100 scientists are required to provide the necessary competence to serve the Nation's oceanography efforts through 1970. Only about 12 of these scientists were employed in fiscal year 1962 and in fiscal year 1966, 46 scientists are utilized in the program. As mentioned previously, the Institution in fiscal year 1962 had research competence in marine invertebrates, mollusks, and fishes. Scientists have now been employed with competence in various fields so that divisions of the museum having marine scientists include crustacea, mollusks, worms, echinoderms, fishes, birds, invertebrate paleontology, paleobotany, sedimentology, petrology, and cryptogams. Additional scientists are located in the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center and a category of "senior scientist" has been established as an award for merit, with full-time research assignment of a few persons within the museum's departmental structure. The facilities for marine research in the Institution include headquarters in the Museum of Natural History. A substantial portion of the approximately 17 acres of floor space in this museum are available for marine collections and laboratories. The laboratories contain research microscopes, dissecting equipment, microtomes, special viewing devices, electron microscopes, an electron probe microanalyzer, X-ray equipment including diffractometers, histological equip ment, freezers and freeze-drying equipment, and special processing devices and materials of great variety. In the navy yard annex 45,000 square feet of space is allotted to the Smithsonian Ocenagraphic Sorting Center. This will be described in more detail in a later section. The Smithsonian Laboratory of Radiation Biology has the latest in equipment to measure the radiation impinging on the ocean's surface and to study the efficiency of transformation of physical energy to the potential energy in green marine and land plants. The Canal Zone biological area has recently acquired facilities for running sea water on the Pacific and on the Atlantic sides of the Panamanian Isthmus in the zone. In fiscal year 1965, as excess property to the Navy Reserve Fleet, the Institution obtained custody of YF 868, a covered freight lighter with a welded steel hull. This vessel has been reactivated and is presently engaged in research on coralline algae of the North Atlantic. Rechristened the Phykos (or sea plant), the vessel is 133 feet 9 inches long with a beam of 30 feet and a draft of 8 feet. The full load displacement is 650 tons. Phykos has twin screws and two 600-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines. Power comes from two diesel generators, 30 and 60 kilowatts in size. The diesel fuel capacity is 16,000 gallons and the water capacity is 3,000 gallons. The vessel provides accommodations for 11 persons. A cargo boom on the main deck, rated at 11.200 pounds at 30 feet from the center line, has provided for on and off loading an undersea research vessel, Asherah, both on the dock and at sea for research. A gasoline winch was installed to work with a stern A frame for operation of dredges. As indicated above, the principal new facility in the oceanography program is the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center, established in January 1963. The Center was conceptualized to receive bulk, mixed, marine samples from governmental and private sources, including the U.S. National Museum; separate them into appropriate taxonomic groups for identification and study by specialists; obtain and coordinate the data taken at the original collection station at sea to provide maximum environmental information; experiment with preservation, labeling, accessioning, shipping, and storage of specimens; train technicians for all aspects of specimen handling; and provide information and forms to oceanic expeditions to assure the collection of appropriate field data. Of special note is project support for strong involvement of the Sorting Center in the U.S. Antarctic Research Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). With NSF support the Center is listing specimens taken from all past U.S. efforts in the Antarctic, and both sorts and maintains records of specimens now being taken from the Antarctic. In addition, the photographs of the ocean bottom taken from the research vessel Eltanin are duplicated and distributed to scientists. Also noteworthy are collections made available for study by the National Science Foundation through the International Indian Ocean Expedition by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and through the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's International Cooperative Investigations of the Tropical Atlantic. Other collections have come to the Sorting Center from the Pacific Halibut Commission, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, the Guinean Trawling Survey, the Geological Survey, the Coast Guard, the Naval Oceanographic Office, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Coastal Engineering Research Center, the Laboratory of Radiation Biology of the University of Washington. the University of Michigan, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Government of Chile. As of May 15, 1965, when the last total was compiled, the Center had sorted 4.332.660 specimens and 2,589,886 had been shipped to 110 scientists for study and identification. The results of these studies speak to the success of the Center and of the significance of the Institution's new efforts. The Sorting Center has served as a unifying influence in the systematics of marine organisms by providing specimens and information concerning the stages of their processing, together with information on the commitments of specialists scattered throughout the world. Visiting scientists may find working space in the Center. An increasing number of the individual specimens from multiple bulk collections are being processed for their research value and the results may be fitted together more effectively. It is anticipated that this flourishing activity will go on from its healthy beginning to do much to meet the challenge of man's expansion into the ocean. Support of the Congress is, of course, vital to the Institution's oceanography program. Established for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," the Institution's charter is quite broad, permitting it to do research in the areas where there are opportunities for progress. It reports to a Board of Regents which includes members of both Houses of Congress and maintains close liaison with the legislative as well as the executive branches of Government. Generally, the Institution favors any scientific organization or study which leads to broader interest and support of marine research. We must reserve comments on proposed legislation until our Board of Regents has had a chance to study it. The Institution stands prepared to participate in any effort to augment the national effort in the field of oceanography. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Hon. ALTON LENNON, GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, Sacramento, August 19, 1965. Chairman, Oceanography Subcommittee, House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN: I have reviewed the proposed National Oceanographic Act of 1965, S. 944, and I am most favorably impressed with the proposal. The provisions for expanded research in the oceans and Great Lakes and the establishment of a National Oceanographic Council are greatly needed steps toward asserting the Federal Government's leadership in the Nation's oceanographic effort. The primary legislative objectives of the act, to set forth a policy and purpose for our national oceanographic program, and to provide high level guidance and coordination to Government activities under the program, are entirely consistent with California's interests in moving forward with its oceanographic program. The passage of S. 944 will provide both the basis for Federal leadership in oceanography and the focus through which the oceanographic efforts of California's government, educational and research institutions, and industry may contribute to the national goals set forth in the bill. I therefore urge your support in seeing that S. 944 is given favorable consideration by Congress. Sincerely, EDMUND G. BROWN, Governor. WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION, OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, Woods Hole, Mass., August 3, 1965. Hon. HASTINGS KEITH, DEAR SIR: I am gratified to see the interest and concern for the Nation's ocean program which has been evidenced by you and your colleagues. The number of bills now pending in the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries gives clear testimony to the fact that the Members of Congress recognize the need to strengthen the Nation's ocean program and intend to do something about it. The national oceanographic program has greatly increased in size in recent years and we are beginning to learn many things about the oceans which were previously unknown. There is a great difference, however, between our present excellent national oceanographic program which is producing basic knowledge about the oceans, and the necessary comprehensive program of the future which will lead to a utilization of this knowledge for the benefit of mankind. I think the time has come when this country should push forward with an ocean engineering program. In some ways it will complement the present oceanographic research program, but an ocean engineering program really has quite different objectives and will require different techniques for achieving them. There are many reasons why we should have an ocean engineering program. Two of the most cogent, to my mind, are the need to conquer the ocean depths for peaceful purposes and the need to develop the vast resource potential of the oceans. You and your colleagues are all keenly aware of the many arguments why this country should embark on an ocean engineering program, and I shall not reiterate them here, but I do believe that the case in favor of an ocean engineering program can be defended solely on the basis of these two goals. I have often been asked why it is necessary for the Federal Government to sponsor engineering development in the oceans when private industry is capable of doing it. The answer, I think, is simply that the initial cost of undertaking engineering projects in the oceans is large, while the rewards may be long delayed in realization or so diffuse as to be unexploitable by a single industrial enterprise. We cannot expect an industrial enterprise, unaided by the Government, to undertake the necessary research and engineering studies, to fund construction of a system, and to underwrite its operation when private industry cannot expect a satisfactory financial return on its investment. A good example of the area wherein the expenditure of public rather than private funds is indicated is the possibility of improving the fishing grounds by controlled returning of nutrients to the surface waters. No single company can be expected to undertake this important project. Some projects in the oceans will undoubtedly prove to be of such a nature that industrial enterprises will gladly undertake them. There is no doubt in my mind that once the Government has led the way into the ocean deeps, industry will not be far behind. This is good and healthy and I think it should be encouraged in every way possible. The present national oceanographic program includes some ocean engineering projects, but the goal of all of them is to improve the capability for carrying out basic research programs. An example close at hand is the Navy-sponsored development of our deep research vehicle, Alvin. This project has necessarily entailed a great deal of ocean engineering, but the objective has been to provide a vehicle for oceanographers to use in their basic research projects. Although the several departments and agencies involved in the national oceanographic program undertake ocean engineering projects in order to fulfill their mission in the oceans, there are gaps between their present missions that preclude the development of a comprehensive ocean engineering capability. These gaps must be filled if we are to develop the capability of conquering the ocean depths for peaceful purposes and exploiting the vast resource potential of the oceans. There are many ways in which these gaps in present ocean engineering projects could be filled. I think it is fairly obvious that the oceanographic research and engineering programs now underway are indeed germane to the operations of the departments and agencies sponsoring them. It is not nearly so clear to me that the development of an ocean engineering capability can be satisfactorily split up among many organizations. I tend, therefore, to think that there should be a new Government organization whose primary responsibility is ocean engineering. There are numerous ways in which the new organization might be formulated. It could be a new department in the executive branch as recently proposed by Senator Muskie, or it could be similar to the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Each of these possibilities has many pros and cons. You and your colleagues are far more knowledgeable than I in the matter of Government organizations and the legislation necessary to produce the desired results. I, therefore, hesitate to suggest any one approach as being more appropriate than another. I do think we need to have a great deal of thought about the long-range objectives of a new organization, much along the lines of the study proposed by Dr. James Wakelin in his address at the Marine Technology Society Conference. We need further thought about the most effective form for the new organization to take; we need to identify more exactly the public stake in the oceans; and we need to consider and define more explicitly our international responsibilities in this area. I also think that there are many ocean engineering projects of some urgency that should be undertaken without waiting for the results of a comprehensive study. Last summer at the Navy's seabed study in Monterey, several of these ocean engineering products were identified and discussed. The final report of the conference discusses not only the defense systems which will require an increased ocean engineering capability, but also systems that will be utilized for basic research projects in the oceans. Undersea laboratories, deep research vehicles, flip ships, and tethered research vehicles are but a few of the systems: which were identified. |