The objective of this programme is to encourage research in living and non-living resources of the ocean, physical and chemical process that governs the seas of India , impact of anthropogenic sources of global climate change, to generate reliable data and information system for the development of engineering systems and suitable technologies for optimum utilisation of ocean resources etc. Some of the activities and achievements during the year 1995-96 are:

Studies on `Sediment water interactions of estuarine and shelf region of Godavari' at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Investigations on `Model based time scale of water movements and superficial water circulation of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, using Radio-Isotopes` at physcial Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.

Under the National Project on "Potential Drugs from the Ocean", during the year, about 280 samples were collected for biological screening and confirmation of biological activities for further studies. Eightyeight pure compounds were isolated and characterised. The samples collected were subjected to a wide spectrum of biological screening for some of the major activities, which inter-alia included anti-fertility, anti-viral, anti-diabetic, anti-malarial, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, etc. Detailed screening of the samples lead to identification of 5 organisms possessing promising activity for anti-diabetic, anti-viral, anti-amoebic, anti-anxiety and larvicidal activities, which would be given top priority for detailed investigations leading to development of potential drugs. Apart from this, four issues of Ocean Drugs Alert Bulletin, of Vol-5, were published and distributed, containing the international patents on Marine products. In addition to the 8 on going projects, the following new projects were funded during the year 1995-96:

`Steep and Extreme Wave Induced Pressures and Forces on Coastal and Offshore Structures' at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

`Boat Typology and Fishing Communities - A Contextual Study, Bengal and Andamans' at National Instiltute of Science, Technology & Development Studies, Delhi.

`Bio-Geochemical Cycling and Sea Air Fluxes of Dimethyl Sulphide in the Northern Indian Ocean' at NIO, Goa.

`Survey of Coral and Sea Grass Mortality in Reefs: Microbial Pathogens and Environmental Disturbances' at NIO, Goa.

`Dissemination of Oceanography Information through Publication of Population Science Monographs (English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu)' at PID, CSIR, New Delhi.

`Marine Archaeological exploration and exploitation of ship wrecks on the west coast of India` at NIO, Goa.

`Conservation of Sea grass eco-system of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere reserve, Monitoring sea grass eco-system characterisation and experimental transplantation studies' at Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu.

`Microbial fouling: isolation and characterisation of corrosion inhabitating polysacharids from corrosion products of metals and alloys immersed in marine waters' at NIO, Goa.