This book is intended to complement Public Policy for the Seas (revised edition published by the MIT Press in 1970), which identified and discussed the principal features of United States policy toward marine affairs. However, it may also be viewed as having its own internal consistency – collecting and commenting upon an extraordinary combination of statements and acts that since 1969 have indicated a new direction for U.S. marine policy, particularly in regard to environmental protection.
New Dimensions in U.S. Marine Policy sets forth trends in contemporary ocean policy so that the reader may develop an understanding of the processes by which broad concepts and goals are translated into specific policy action. The authors suggest that “as the reader continues through the position papers and documents, he should ask himself what the national interest requires with respect to the situation. Possible alternatives should then be identified, with the advantages and disadvantages of each weighed. Finally, considering those which are practicable, realizable, and politic, the reader should come to a conclusion as to what action should be taken.”
Like its companion volume, the book is an important contribution to the advancement of knowledge of national policy relating to the seas, especially as it elucidates the considerations necessary for establishing more enlightened practices for exploring and utilizing the oceans as a natural resource. Statements by the President and by Congress, position papers and documents on national goals and objectives are divided into seven major chapters: “New Goals for Marine Policy”; “The Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf”; “Marine Utilization”; “Pollution of the Seas”; “The International Seabed Area”; “Organizing the National Oceanic Administration”; and “Looking to the Future.” Substantial attention is devoted to evolving U.S. policy with respect to the pollution of the marine environment and to establishing new laws for the sea.
This is the most recent volume in the Ocean Engineering Series, which is derived from the curriculum development program undertaken at MIT as a part of the National Sea Grant program. Other titles in the series are: Public Policy for the Seas (revised edition), by Norman J. Padelford; Ocean Engineering Systems, by John Craven; Materials for Ocean Engineering, by Koichi Masubuchi; Ocean Engineering Structures, by J. Harvey Evans and John C. Adamchak; Water, Air, and Interface Vehicles, by Philip Mandel; and Stability and Motion Control of Ocean Vehicles, by Martin A. Abkowitz.
