Marine Science Affairs 



proach is required to correct it. Accelerated development of food from the 

 sea offers high promise of meeting a part of the world-wide need for protein, 

 and thus assist in : 



— reducing threats to world order which are born in areas of starvation 



and despair; 

 — extending the humanitarian traditions that underlie our society; 

 — promoting collaborative efforts between nations in an endeavor of 



common concern; 

 — strengthening economies of developing nations which are striving to 

 become contributors to the world economy. 

 The Marine Sciences Act states that the U.S. marine science program 

 should contribute to rehabilitation of our commercial fisheries and to ac- 

 celerated development of marine resources. The legislation also singles out 

 international cooperation for special emphasis. 



Thus, the Government is endeavoring to strengthen on-going efforts to 

 assist the domestic fishing industry in improving its position in world fishery 

 production through the application of modern science and technology 

 and by economic measures. Also, the United States has embarked on a new, 

 long-range program to exploit the oceans more fully as a source of food 

 to help feed the undernourished people of the world. To that end, our 

 programs follow the broad strategy of the War on Hunger. 



State of the Fishing Industry 



Since 1956, the United States has dropped from second to sixth place 

 among the fishing nations of the world. While Peru, Japan, Mainland 

 China, the USSR, and recently Norway have increased their landings 

 sharply, the catch of American fishermen has decreased slightly during the 

 last 10 years. (See Figure III. 1.) 



The current demand in the United States for all types of fishery products 

 is equivalent to 65 pounds of fish per capita per year, one of the highest 

 rates in the world. The proportion of this demand met by imports has been 

 increasing and in 1966 amounted to about 65 percent of the aquatic products 

 used by the United States. These imports were valued at more than $720 

 million. (See Figure III. 2.) 



Estimates indicate that the world fishery catch can be greatly increased 

 with presently available techniques. These estimates range from at least a 

 doubling of the catch to a possible increase by a factor of five or more. 

 Of the known species of potential economic value off our coasts, only a few 

 are currently being commercially exploited. Nevertheless, the domestic fish- 

 ing industry has not expanded, and the rich, latent living resources in nearby 



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