Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report on the Federal Ocean Program.

To the Congress of the United States:

The past decade has been a productive period in our Nation's effort to better understand and utilize our marine resources. The early 1960's saw the establishment of a firm foundation for our Nation's oceanographic research programs. Building on this research base in the late 1960's and early 1970's, we began formulating policies and carrying out plans to derive practical benefits from our ocean activities. New marine-related institutions were developed, the importance of marine sciences to the activities of existing institutions was recognized, and their efforts were expanded. While recognizing the ongoing importance of basic research, I believe that this emphasis on practical benefits must also be carried forward in the years ahead.

OCEAN INDUSTRIES

We have been particularly concerned of late with the challenge of relieving our dependence on marine imports and at the same time, providing new products and services for export. Our fishing industry has been a special focus of concern. At present, we import approximately 70 percent of our fish products, in spite of the fact that some of the world's most fertile fisheries lie directly off our coasts. These imports contribute a billion dollars to our foreign trade deficit. To help protect our domestic fishing industry, I have recommended legislation which would permit U.S. regulation of foreign fishing off our coasts to the fullest extent authorized by international agreements and would permit Federal regulation of domestic fisheries in the U.S. fisheries zone and in the high seas beyond that zone.

Of the non-living or mineral resources of the seabed, petroleum from our continental shelves will be the most important to the Nation for some years to come. I have directed the Secretary of the Interior to continue to accelerate the leasing of Outer Continental Shelf lands for oil and gas production to a level triple the present annual acreage rate by 1979, as long as such development can proceed with adequate protection of the environment and under conditions consistent with my Oceans Policy statement of May 1970.

We are also seeking agreement with other nations on a suitable means for developing mineral resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

MANAGING OUR MARINE RESOURCES

Our efforts to improve the means by which we extract resources from the sea must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that those resources are managed properly to protect their continued abundance. In America, as in other nations, there is a deepening concern for the marine environment and the welfare of its associated plant and animal life. There is also a growing worldwide recognition that the welfare of the ocean resources is of international concern. This concern has been manifested in the establishment of the United Nations Environment Program and Fund following the Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm and in the recent Convention on International Trade and Endangered Wild Species of Fauna and Flora. The Marine Mammals Act of 1972, which will help in the preservation of porpoises, seals, whales and other mammals which inhabit the seas and shores, is another significant step in this effort. So is my proposed Endangered Species Conservation Act, which would permit protective measures to be undertaken before a species is so depleted that its recovery is difficult or impossible.

The need for proper management of our coastal areas is inextricably linked with the need for proper management of our marine resources. Much of our population is concentrated on the relatively narrow band of our national coastal zone. The problems of urban development and land transportation within this zone, as well as the impact of ocean vessels of mammoth tonnage, demand serious consideration of our entire coastal transportation complex including deepwater ports and off-shore terminals. Recently proposed legislation for the licensing of deepwater ports is another key element in our effort to anticipate and resolve this problem.

I believe that coastal zone management must be part of a program for the proper management of all our national lands. For this reason, my legislative program for this year includes again my recommendation for a major National Land Use Policy Act, a bill which would place special emphasis on the problems of our coastal zone.

I have further requested that the Senate give its consent to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, adopted in November 1972 by the United States and 91 other nations. I have proposed amendments to our ocean dumping legislation fully to implement the 'Convention and I am proposing legislation to carry out other international agreements related to pollution control under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization.

MARINE ADVISORY SERVICES

To support Federal marine programs and to assist in their application for the benefit of the American public, a marine advisory service has been established to serve as a two-way communications link with the public. Field agents of this advisory service--"county agents in hip boots"--will help bring to the Nation an awareness of our ocean heritage and its potential for satisfying many of our economic and social needs.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Problems of the marine environment have a unique global dimension. As we continue our efforts in the marine areas that I have highlighted, we shall also work to improve the performance of these functions within the international community. We are already making headway, for example, in advancing the International Decade of Ocean Exploration, the International Field Year of the Great Lakes, and the Integrated Global Ocean Station System of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Meteorological Organization.

We have also established special agreements for cooperative marine activities with a number of nations, including Canada, France, Japan, and the USSR. In addition, we shall take whatever efforts are required to fulfill those commitments made at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the meetings of the' International Whaling Commission, and the significant deliberations of numerous other organizations dedicated to fisheries and the marine environment. We shall also continue to work with developing nations, helping them to realize more fully the benefits available to them from the oceans and generating the climate necessary to assure freedom of research at sea for all nations.

Finally, we must seek ways to insure that the oceans remain an avenue of peaceful cooperation rather than an arena of tension-filled confrontation. Our efforts in the Law of the Sea deliberations, now beginning, will be devoted to this goal.

CONCLUSION

America is a seagoing nation with great dependence on the oceans that surround it. We can take pride in our past leadership and our accomplishments in marine science and engineering. I am determined that our future Federal marine effort will continue that leadership to the benefit of our Nation and all mankind.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House,

September 28, 1973.