OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 45 



By an extension in hydrographic surveying, the way is open for 

 direct geographical discovery. Today, this carries a new significance. 

 It has become clear from the naming of the invisible radiation belt 

 around the earth after its discoverer. Dr. James A. Van Allen, and 

 of major features on the backside of the Moon by the Soviets who 

 first photographed it from an artificial satellite, that an element of 

 prestige attends such accomplishments. The British National Com- 

 mittee on Ocean Bottom Ventures has recommended that geographi- 

 cal names should be given wherever possible to all major features 

 and that personal or ship names should only be given to secondary 

 features.-^ It is unlikely, however, that there would be agreement on 

 this process despite the possible effect in reducing international rival- 

 ries. Subsurface countercurrents in the Pacific have recently been 

 discovered by the American, Cromwell and so named. Such acclaim 

 is one of the professional rewards for discovery. In a tense interna- 

 tional climate, where even small items relate to national prestige, such 

 naming of geographical features in the ocean may be significant. Even- 

 tually, discoveries and the national rivalries that may attend such 

 processes may take on an entirely different aspect when the enterprise 

 involves the joint collection of data by several nations sunultaneously. 



Finally, it might be noted that as activities in the oceans grovr, the 

 problem of determining precise location will become increasingly 

 significant. The location of property boundaries offshore is now 

 accomplished by standard geodetic techniques, referenced to land 

 marks. But, far at sea, this may be exceedingly difficult. If activi- 

 ties in the sea materialize according to views of many working in the 

 field, then reference lines may be literally run on the bottom of the 

 ocean and either bottom topograpliy or anomalies in the Earth's mag- 

 netic or gravitational field utilized for precise undersea navigation 

 and location. Lines marked on the ocean bottom by an accurately 

 steered vehicle might persist for many years because of the relative 

 freedom from currents and the exceedingly slow rate of sedimentation. 



D. STUDY OF XEW RESOURCES 



1. Biological 



Among the problems now confronting human society that have 

 aroused widespread interest and discussion and yet seem among 

 the most baffling is the failure of the majority of the people in the 

 world to have enough to eat. Human population is rapidly gTov/ing 

 and in some regions has far outstripped available food supply. Food 

 deficiency of one kind or another exists everywhere, even in the United 

 States. Despite the best of intentions and the application of logic, the 

 problem does not appear soluble simply by shipping excess food from 

 the richer to the poorer regions. Thus, even with benefits of agricul- 

 tural science, production does not now satisfy world needs. 



Many food economists have pointed to the sea as the most likely 

 source of protein enrichment of human diet. The seas are filled with 

 rich fauna and flora drifting at the surface, or in layers at intermediate 

 depths; there are meadows of plants and swarms of large and small 

 animals grazing or preying upon one another. While there are 20,000 

 species of fish alone, only a few species are caught, and only part of 

 those caught are used. 



:»" Proposed Xames of Features on the Deep-Sea Floor," by Wiseman and Ovev, Deep Sea Research, 

 1954-55, vol. 2, p. 93. 



