THE OCEAN: ITS POTENTIALITIES AND PRODUCTS 7 



ocean. Taking into consideration the great abundance and accessibility of marine 

 life, it is surprising that man makes so little use of it. 



Relative Importance of Marine Products 



Our only som'ces of food, upon which life is dependent, are agriculture and 

 fisheries; the wild game of the forests is no longer a factor of economic importance. 

 While the fisheries are nearly overshadowed by agriculture, they furnish products 

 which are almost indispensable. Crops do not need to be sown or cultivated, yet 

 they are extremely productive. Moreover, the annual product has been rapidly 

 increasing in both quantity and value in recent years. The limit of production has 

 not been reached, and with careful supervision the fisheries may be expanded 

 greatly. The most reliable statistics available indicate that the annual products of 

 the world's fisheries are valued at approximately three billion dollars (page 195). 

 At least a hundred million dollars may be added to the total as the value of 

 the salt, magnesium, bromine, pearls, and miscellaneous products is not usually 

 included in the evaluation of the fisheries. 



It has been estimated that, taken as a whole, fishery products constitute less 

 than three per cent of the world's food. However, in certain countries, such as 

 Norway and Japan, fish is a much more important food factor and may even make 

 up ten per cent. 



In England and the United States the industries are relatively small in com- 

 parison with agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. In England the chief fisheries 

 are herring, cod, haddock, and mackerel. The more important catches of fish in 

 American waters include those listed, as well as salmon, sardines, halibut, men- 

 haden, shad, alewives, oysters, shrimp, and lobsters. 



In Japan the marine fisheries occupy a place of importance comparable to that 

 of no other large nation. In spite of the small area of land the coast line is extraor- 

 dinarily long— more than 20,000 miles in extent. Since the islands are rather moun- 

 tainous, the agricultural products are limited. As there are about 55,000,000 in- 

 habitants in an area of only 260,738 square miles, the Japanese are forced to turn 

 to the ocean for a considerable proportion of their food. Japanese statistics indicate 

 that about 975,000 persons * were entirely or partly engaged in the fisheries 

 in 1945; prior to 1942 the number of Japanese engaged in the fishery industries 

 was approximately 1,450,000. The great number of people in these industries may 

 be accounted for by the fact that every part of Japan is either directly or indirectly 

 concerned with fisheries. The annual product per person engaged in the industry is 

 very low; the total value of fishery products in 1940 was only about $100,000,000, 

 or about $70 per person. 



In northern Europe, where farming is more difiBcult and meat-producing animals 

 scarcer, the fisheries are of greater national importance than in the United States. 

 Fishing is one of the leading industries of Norway and Scotland. In 1948 the 

 Norwegians caught about one million metric tons of herring, having a value of 

 about 173,000,000 kroner. Cod, haddock, flounder, and sardines are also caught 

 in enormous quantities. Furthermore, the Norwegians control about half of the 

 world's whaling industry. Denmark and Iceland, considering their population and 

 size, also have exceptionally important fisheries. 



* 523,000 persons were employed full time and about 452,000 devoted part of their 

 efforts to fishing or to the fishery industries. 



