463 



being conducted off the coast of Louisiana. 36 Present reserves are 

 estimated at nearly 40 million tons, and more sulphur is expected to 

 occur in similar domes offshore. 



In the bedrock below the sedimentary cover of the ocean floor, the 

 crystalline rocks, like granite, may contain metallic minerals. Farther 

 offshore into the abyssal plains, the crystalline bedrock is mostly 

 basaltic rather than granitic, where chromite, nickel, and platinum may 

 be found. Unlike the dredging techniques for mining surface deposits, 

 and the conventional land-based mining methods, the extraction of 

 deep-ocean minerals presents formidable problems. Given the present 

 availability of such minerals from land ore deposits, the consideration 

 of deep-ocean minerals becomes a highly academic one of potential 

 rather than actual resource. Nevertheless, the onrush of technology 

 makes it hard to predict whether or when deep submarine deposits 

 may become "ores." They should not be ignored in the formulation 

 of policy for the long-range future. 



Resources of the Oceans 



Although attention in this report is focused on the seabed, it is 

 appropriate to give some consideration to the resources of the sea 

 itself, to their exploitation by man, and to the potential they offer for 

 the future. They include the living organisms of the marine environ- 

 ment for products like food, food derivatives, and pharmaceuti- 

 cals ; potable water from the sea ; the salts and other minerals contained 

 in the water; the minerals on and under the ocean floor; and such 

 related activities as shipping and aquatic recreation. 



FOOD FROM THE SEA 



Since his emergence on Earth and his first encounter with the sea, 

 man has utilized it as a source of food and a means of transportation. 



Life on Earth emerged from its primordial ocean, and the life-giv- 

 ing characteristics of the ocean have always played their role in the 

 maintenance of the food chain of living organisms. Man's quest for 

 food from the sea went through the hunting stage for most of historic 

 time, and is now extending to the domestication and farming stages 

 analogous to those known on land. Methods of utilizing the food re- 

 sources of the sea have also progressed. They vary among the nations 

 of the world from primitive techniques to ultra-modern electrical, elec- 

 tronic, and acoustical fishing methods. The immediate results of these 

 technological developments are the obvious overfishing and exter- 

 mination of a number of species, and the diversification into other 

 types of living organisms that have been heretofore neglected. The 

 world harvest is estimated at 60 million tons of fish annually from 

 conventional species. Species now unused could provide an additional 

 amount close to 200 million tons. 



38 In 1968, more than $35 million worth of sulphur came from two mines, one located 

 7 miles seaward of Grand Isle and the other at the Caminada Pass. The sulphur is ex- 

 tracted by the Frasch method in liquid form through a drill hole similar to an oil well. 

 The most important single sulphur market in the world is the fertilizer industry in 

 Florida, where sulphuric acid is used in processing local phosphate rock into fertilizer. 

 Consumption of elemental sulphur until the early 1960's has increased at an average of 

 5 per cent annually, and jumped to an average of 12 per cent annually since then. 



96-525 O - 77 - vol. 1-31 



