ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 11 



portant in that it provides for the study of the economic and 

 technological, as well as the biological aspects of the fisheries. 

 It is a pleasure to support this bill and to express the interest 

 of the faculty of the College of Fisheries in its passage. 



Food from the sea also can improve relations between nations and 

 peoples, Dr. J. E. Lipp, corporate director of development planning, 

 Lockheed Au'craft Corp., Burbank. Calif., ad\'ised this committee 

 in a letter strongly indorsing S. 901. Dr. Lipp stated: 



Although the sea is man's oldest ancestral environment 

 it is also his newest, and is receptive to massive technical 

 and industrial penetration in the next few decades. There 

 is now little doubt of our basic ability to improve economic 

 and living standards the world over l^y energetic exploration 

 and development of the oceans. 



The L^nited States must lead this trend, for its own prog- 

 ress as well as to assure stability and peace for future genera- 

 tions. A world with adequate water, food, and materials 

 supphes will be a world of reduced tensions, reduced war- 

 fare, increased welfare. 



The United States is not progressmg m the production of food fish; 

 it is slipping backward. 



In 1941 American fishermen caught and harvested 3,062 million, 

 pounds of fish for human food. War came in December of that year. 

 The Navy acquired 285 of the finest fishing vessels on our coasts for 

 use as minesweepers, tenders, lighters, patrol ships and for other 

 purposes. Neither the Atlantic, Pacific, gulf, Alaska, nor Hawaiian 

 island coasts were spared from this Navy draft of fishing vessels, a 

 draft that could hardly be repeated in another war because of the 

 deterioration and obsolescence of the Nation's fishing fleet. 



Despite this withdrawal from the industry of its largest and best 

 oceangoing ships American fishermen all through the war harvested 

 more food from the seas than in any of the past 4 years, and averaged 

 a quarter billion more pounds annually than in 1960. 



At the end of the war and with the return of some of their ships 

 American fishermen caught more than 3 billion pounds annually for 

 7 straight years, mth the record catch of 3,307 million pounds in 1950. 

 In 1952 the catch dropped to 2,778 million, in 1953 to 2,519 million, 

 and since then it has held fairly stable. These figures all represent 

 the fish taken for human consumption. Preliminarv figures give the 

 1960 catch as 2,497 milhon. 



The iVmerican demand for fishery products has not receded. It 

 has, in fact, expanded. With the decline of American fisheries, the 

 demand has been met by imports. In 1940 these unports totaled 

 302 million pounds with a value of $29,073,000. In 1950 unports 

 amounted to 405 million pounds valued at $76,434,000. By 1955 

 imports had risen to 771 million pounds and the value to $208,051,000. 

 In 1959, the last year for which data is available, 1,113,624,000 pounds 

 of food fish were unported for which $311,033,000 American dollars 

 went to foreign countries. 



This is nearly three times the total amount the Committee on 

 Oceanography considers would be required for the 10-year program 

 of ship and laboratory constructions research and exploration it has 

 recommended to restore the American fisheries mdustry to the historic 

 role it once held in the Nation's economy. 



