362 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
of the Northern Hemisphere with half a dozen automobiles recording 
observations by flying kites on a moonless night. 
However, it is not by enumerating the handicaps under which he has 
to work that the oceanographer can hope to rouse interest in, and win 
support for, marine science. Rather, he must point to the practical 
benefits that can be gained from the study of the ocean. He must 
show—if he can—that it will help us to get more food and raw ma- 
terials from the sea and that this can be done without prejudice to 
future supplies; that it will improve the use of the sea for navigation 
or for such purposes as the disposal of waste products; that defenses 
against waves, storms, floods, and the silting of harbors will become 
more effective as we learn more about the sea. In other words, he has 
to show in what ways oceanography can be of practical use. 
FOOD FROM THE SEA 
The ocean covers over 70 percent of the earth’s surface, and any part 
of it is, on an average, probably at least as fertile as an equivalent area 
of land. Naturally this fertility (and the same applies to the fertility 
of land surfaces) depends on a complex interaction of sunlight, nu- 
trients, and other environmental conditions which may vary considera- 
bly from one region to another. 
To reap the harvest of the ocean is at least as difficult a task as that 
of reaping the harvest of the land. The bulk of marine life is in the 
form of microscopic plants and animals, usually known as plankton, 
which are neither easy to gather nor agreeable to the human palate; 
we have therefore to rely almost entirely on their conversion into 
human food by fish and animals that have been nourished and fattened 
on them. In our ponds and streams we can practice some husbandry, 
but in the oceans we must still hunt for food and must face many of the 
problems that confront us on land. Weare beginning to find that even 
in the most fertile areas stocks of profitable and edible fish are not 
inexhaustible, and that the profits of the chase depend on scientific 
knowledge, technical ingenuity, and capital expenditure. The increase 
in the activity and efficiency of commercial trawling and the consequent 
impoverishment of favorite fishing grounds have made it necessary 
to send ships farther afield and to intensify the drive for improved 
methods of detecting and catching fish. It is now possible for salmon 
to be taken in great numbers in the open ocean as well as in the rivers; 
tunny can be caught in midocean areas far away from their tradi- 
tionally known haunts; and whalers now have recourse to the modern 
methods of underwater detection and aerial observation. It is signifi- 
cant that the methods developed by whalers for operations in the most 
distant oceans of the world are now being applied to fisheries in the 
North Atlantic; factory ships and transports are tending more and 
more to take the place of shore bases. 
