Chapter XIII 

 LOOKING AHEAD 



Marine science affairs — the subject of this report — is a term intended 

 to portray the body of oceanic activities that link science and society. 

 Many of these relationships are old, dating to man's earliest efforts 

 to extract fish and salt from the sea, and to his earliest explorations 

 of our planet. But many of the relationships between science and 

 society are new and still not fully understood. 



The development of understanding has begun, however, a develop- 

 ment that can lead us to our objective : the formulation of public poli- 

 cies and purposes which will stimulate and guide the many separate 

 ocean activities and relate them directly to major goals of society. 



The major challenges which lie ahead of this Nation do not ter- 

 minate at the water's edge. Neither do the solutions. 



As the world population grows faster than its food supply, the sea 

 may provide nutrition. As the world demand for energy and minerals 

 grows faster than the population, resources in and under the sea will 

 be needed. As coastal cities become more crowded, the quality of 

 urban living may be enhanced by preserving the natural heritage of 

 our shoreline. 



Two of the programs discussed earlier may serve to illustrate this 

 relationship to social goals. One is the program for exploiting the 

 food resources of the sea and the other is weather forecasting. 



The food resources program relates directly and immediately to 

 one of the most urgent of current world problems: the problem of 

 protein malnutrition. Technological progress with the food resources 

 program will lead to economic and social gains in protein production, 

 gains which will have profound world significance. Half the world's 

 population suffers from some form of protein deficiency. If ocean 

 fishing methods are improved — through advances in fisheries technol- 

 ogy and the exportation of that technology to needy nations — a sharp 

 increase in fish protein production could begin to eradicate protein de- 

 ficiency among the present world population. 



Weather forecasting — another field which relates directly to so- 

 ciety — is a field whose advancement depends upon man's increased 

 understanding of the oceans. In the system of heat energy coming to 

 the earth from the sun, the ocean is the great regulator of weather and 



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