Proclamation 4563—National Oceans Week, 1978

Throughout history the ocean has been a magnet for explorers, scientists, merchants, adventurers?and dreamers. Where once the oceans were cloaked in superstition, today we plumb their depths with an amazing array of technological devices, and we are beginning to understand the vital role of the oceans in life on this planet. The world community looks to the oceans as a vital source of food, energy and mineral resources, while they remain crucial to trade as they have been since ancient times.

As governments, international organizations and private groups develop plans and programs to harvest some of the riches of the sea, we must also control marine pollution. We must unlock the secrets of the ocean to understand the results of man's activities?not only at sea, but on land as well?which adversely affect sea-life. It is essential that we discover and work with the oceans' capacity to survive misuse. All the peoples of the world must understand that the ocean cannot be subjected to unchecked exploitation, but because our Nation lies between the world's largest oceans, and because of our economic position, the United States has a special responsibility in preventing the deadening of the seas. A careful balance between conservation and commercial development must be achieved if the oceans are to meet the needs of future generations.

In order to increase public awareness of the importance of the oceans of the world, the Ninety-fifth Congress has adopted a joint resolution (S.J. Res. 124) requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating the week of April 16 through April 22, 1978, as National Oceans Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning Sunday, April 16, 1978, as National Oceans Week.

I call upon public officials, users of the oceans and coasts, environmental organizations, industry, the media and civic leaders to join together to make the public aware of the importance of our ocean resources and I urge every American to take the time and trouble to learn about the proper use and management of our marine waters and the wealth of their contents.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second.

JIMMY CARTER