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01) 2 774 -27- Fisheries and the National Science Foundation, of cO,urse, support marine activities and atmospheric activities as part of the basic mission of advanced education and research. . Apart from these, step by step, the argument for establishment of a strong. locus of effort, with adequate authority and adequate resources with a capacity to undertake major initiatives and follow through, becomes over- whelmingly persuasive. We believe that the councils and commissions are inadequate and we are unable to act or function more than in an advisory capacity and from our experience, we feel this applies to the Marine Council. I don't understand well the function of the Water Resources Council but I would reason to state that the action must come from the . department itself rather than from the Council. The Marine Council must go through the Interior or the Navy or Commerce Departments to take the actions. ~&;"Xlf~ As one proceeds through the report of the Commission, the logic of that argument appears to develop itself. It rests upon the need to create through science and engineering an expanding array of capabilities. It relates to the sponsoring of a plan of national projects. It reflects the urgency of establishing before it is too late a program of systematic management of our coastal zones to forestall the continuing erosion of our shores and the pollution of our estuaries. It meets the needs for .exploration and research that are essential for the. productive use of the seabed and to the rehabiiitation of our fisheries. It recognizes the environmental unity of land and sea and atmosphere and. the future of monitoring, prediction and control. To all users of the marine environment, it would provide essential services, including navigation, mapping and charting. Initially, the proposed organization would include the Coast Guard which is now with the Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries which, of course, is in the Interior; Environmental Science Ser- vices Administration; Department of Commerce; and the U.S. Lakes Survey, which is part of the Corps of Engineers. In addition, NOAA would assume responsibility for the National Sea Grant Program, the National Oceano- graphic Data Center, and for those programs in the Bureau of Sports Fisheries which relate to the marine and anadromous fisheries, possibly also the National Center for Atmospheric Research which is in Boulder, and the support of the United States Antarctic Research Program. [fl~~a~J.~ -;_~-...-::~:.:; _:...x;.;