Perspective 



Pollution presents serious economic consequences. For example, it is 

 estimated that 10.7 million acres of our bays and estuaries could be used 

 for shellfish culture; even today pollution prevents the use of more than 

 10 percent of these waters. In some areas commercial shad and oyster fisher- 

 ies have been destroyed because of polluted rivers and estuaries. 



Weather also affects coastal activities. The hazards and losses from hurri- 

 canes, storms, wave-induced erosion, and floods are serious. Table 1 1-4 

 summarizes losses from North Atlantic tropical cyclones. 



Table 11-4 — Losses from North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones 



1943-1947. 

 1948-1952. 

 1953-1957. 

 1958-1962. 

 1963-1967. 



Source: Department of Commerce. 



A Storehouse of Critically Needed Protein 



One of the ocean's great resources is food. More effective use of the living 

 resources of the ocean can provide better and less expensive food to help 

 alleviate the world hunger problem, provide a wider variety of nutritious 

 foods for affluent societies, and stimulate economic opportunities at home 

 and abroad by a competitive fishing industry'. 



Many developing areas of the world are critically short of animal protein. 

 The developing world's protein gap is depicted in Figure II-7. Protein 

 malnutrition can have a devastating effect on the growth of school children, 

 and today one-half of the world's population lives in countries where protein 

 malnutrition is endemic. 



The ocean's living resources offer hope for alleviating a portion of the 

 nutrition crisis. Fish are approximately 15 percent protein; they contain 

 a favorable balance of amino acids required in human diets. Conservative 

 estimates indicate the world fish catch can be increased at least four times 

 without depleting stocks. This unused potential of fish protein could meet a 

 significant fraction of present and future world needs. 



27 



