Chapter V 

 UTILIZING FOOD RESOURCES OF THE SEAS 



Next to the pursuit of peace, the greatest challenge to the human 

 family is the race between food supply and population increase. 

 That race is now being lost. 



Lyndon B. Johnson. 



The Problem and a SoluHon 



Protein malnutrition afflicts half the world population. Vigorous 

 efforts by all nations are necessary to produce food, adequate in quan- 

 tity and quality, to keep pace with the expanding- world population and 

 the needs of newly developing countries. The causes of world peace 

 and individual welfare demand maximum effort from the more ad- 

 vanced nations. 



This problem directly impinges on our Nation's interests, and these 

 facts lie behind a long-standing policy to wage war on hunger. 



The imbalance between protein supply and requirements is so serious 

 that every reasonable approach is required to correct it. Cereals sup- 

 ply the bulk of the world's protein, but they do not meet the quantita- 

 tive need, nor contain all of the essential amino acids. To provide 

 both an adequate quantity and a proper balance of amino acids, addi- 

 tional cheap protein sources are needed to supplement cereals. 



This potential of the sea to help meet a significant fraction of world- 

 wide need for protein has been recognized for many years, discussed 

 in every recent study on oceanography, and flagged by the President's 

 Science Advisory Committee as deserving highest priority attention. 



The recommendation by the Marine Sciences Council represents a 

 next step — a plan for action to match a solution to the food problem. 

 The new initiative to increase utilization of the food resources of the 

 sea was adopted by the Council because of the high promise of help- 

 ing to meet the worldwide food problem promptly, economically, with 

 available or emerging technologies, and in the framework of existing 

 institutions. 



The World Market 



The 1965 world catch of seafoods of all kinds was 115 billion pounds, 

 two-thirds of which was used directly for human consumption. 

 Figure 5 shows the trend of the world market, extrapolated to the year 



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