of resource potential ; ineffective management ; a generally depressed fishing 

 industry; and competition by superbly equipped foreign fishing fleets. There 

 are also serious problems of environmental degradation, particularly where 

 estuarine-dependent species are concerned. In some areas — the New York 

 Bight is an example — marine pollution has affected commercial and recrea- 

 tional fisheries to an undetermined degree, and further environmental de- 

 terioration in estuarine and coastal areas can only produce the same negative 

 result. 



The Federal Ocean Program is striving to provide answers and aid to our 

 sport and commercial fisheries and the industries they support and to retrieve 

 threatened forms of marine life from the brink of extinction. 



Resource Management 



Effective management of living marine resources is concerned with con- 

 serving (through controlled harvesting) existing stocks, developing new ones, 

 and determining how these stocks are to be allocated among competing 

 fishermen. It is also increasingly concerned with the interrelations between 

 marine life and the physical environment. 



During 1971, a State-Federal program, sponsored by NOAA, was started 

 to provide integration of biological, economic, legal, and social information 

 in an effort to overcome the legal and institutional constraints which in- 

 hibit efficient resource utilization and to establish the framework for alloca- 

 tion. Steps were taken by regional teams to define specific local problems 

 and to plan, with local agencies, for developing solutions. About 700 project 

 grants were made to States for biological research, construction of fish 

 hatcheries, research laboratories and vessels, and research on controlling 

 jellyfish and algae. Also included were projects to alleviate resource ' dis- 

 asters caused by hurricanes, fish diseases, and other natural phenomena. 

 Two such disasters occurred in Fiscal Year 1972 when oyster resources were 

 destroyed by natural causes in Mobile Bay, Ala., and Escambia Bay, Fla. 



NOAA and the BSFW participated in an analysis of the environmental 

 impact of such activities as dredging, filling, waste disposal, channel con- 

 struction, reservoir construction, power generation, and drainage to conserve 

 and enhance the marine, estuarine, and anadromous living aquatic 

 resources. 



The Corps of Engineers funded academic institutions in North Caroluia 

 to conduct research on utilizing unpolluted spoil and selected grasses. This 

 has proven successful in forming biological communities on the test sites. 

 The Oflfice of Sea Grant has since expanded this program, and additional 

 research is being accomplished in Savannah, Ga., and Mobile, Ala., by 

 the Corps. 



Sport fishermen account for a large portion of this country's catch of 

 salt-water fish, but the size and real value of their catch have not been 

 fully identified. Obtaining detailed statistics has been diflficult. However, 

 recent studies conducted for NOAA by the Bureau of the Census reveal that 

 some 9.5 million anglers fished in salt water in 1970 and spent $1.4 billion. 

 This was an increase since 1965 of over one million anglers and an increase 

 in average annual expenditure per angler from $96 to a total of $129. 



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