Non-Living Resources 



Table IV.l — ^ Value of Mineral Production from Oceans Bordering the 



United States, 1960 66 



[Millions of dollars] 



Marine Mineral Production bv Source 



' Sea water. 



■ Ocean subfloors. 



3 Beaches and seafloors. 



Source: Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior. 



The petroleum industry's continued confidence in the potential of off- 

 shore production was demonstrated in the June 1967 Federal lease sale off 

 Louisiana which resulted in $510 million in bonuses bid for 150 tracts. 

 Many tracts were in water depths of more than 300 feet ; thus the active bid- 

 ding indicates that industry expects to have technology for operations in 

 deeper water relatively soon. 



The Shelf is thus a logical focus for a new era of systematic surveys. The 

 growing world-wide demand for resources, the unexplored areas of the 

 Continental Shelf with geological continuity from adjacent land areas which 

 have yielded great mineral wealth, and scattered positive indications that 

 resources are there, all direct attention to learning more about non-living 

 resources under the sea, as on the Continent itself. See Figure IV.l. De- 

 lineation of the distribution and quantity of resources, together with ad- 

 vances in technology to reduce the disparity in costs between on-shore and 

 off-shore extraction operations, will in large measure determine the pace 

 of developing the Shelf. Other factors — legal, economic, and political — will 

 also influence its development in competition with other sources of min- 

 erals or their substitutes. 



Mineral and fuel resources from land sources are developed almost entirely 

 through private investment and initiative. Private industry is expected to 

 continue to take a similar role on the Continental Shelf. 



A major issue thus is presented: How should Federal policies and ac- 

 tivities appropriately evolve to enhance and accelerate sound development 

 by private industry of marine resources on public off-shore lands? Should 



49 



