Resources and Environment 



A compelling force in the Federal Ocean Program has been the growing 

 awareness that the marine environment and its resources are linked in 

 ways we do not fully understand. The Federal efTort reflected this during 

 1971 as strong programs developed to improve our ability to manage and 

 conserve the living resources of the sea, to tap nonliving resources without 

 ecological penalties, to comprehend natural phenomena and their inter- 

 action with man's activities, and to end or mitigate what we have been 

 doing wrong. At the same time, the Nation's impending energy crisis raised 

 hard questions related to management and allocation of offshore resources. 



An example of how such intersecting problems are affected by present 

 stress on the environment is seen in the President's Energy Message of 

 June 4, 1971, which recommended the acceleration of the sale of oil and 

 gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, while insisting on the most 

 stringent environmental protection measures possible. Such protection, in 

 turn, requires the knowledge provided by extensive biological, geological, 

 and geophysical research and reconnaissance surveys of these regions. This 

 attempt to achieve equilibrium between developing a resource and protect- 

 ing life and environment is characteristic of such Federal programs as they 

 are now constituted. 



Much effort continued to be applied during 1971 to the perennial diffi- 

 culties of our fishing industry which, year in, year out, flourishes in a few 

 sectors but languishes in many more. Here, as elsewhere, there was fresh 

 emphasis on effective resource management, including international nego- 

 tiations bearing on the impact of foreign fishing fleets, and on such pro- 

 grams as MARMAP (Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and 

 Prediction) — an initiative of NOAA which seeks to define the living resources 

 of the oceans and guide their efficient management. 



Although the discovery of mercury contamination in certain fishery prod- 

 ucts depressed the fishing industry somewhat in the early months of 1971, 

 the overall effect was one of creating better awareness of potential problems 

 requiring attention. A program of contaminant research and inspection by 

 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and NOAA laboratories concluded, 

 after extensive sampling of fish stocks, that only in limited cases was a 

 public warning necessary against particular items (e.g., swordfish) because 

 of the incidence of contamination. As the year ended, the fishing industry 

 had instituted quality control measures to police itself. The FDA-NOAA 

 contaminant study continues, however, to insure timely detection of any 

 future fishery-product contamination by mercury or other heavy metals 

 and to track the flow of these materials from manmade and natural sources 

 through the food chains of the sea. 



Growing numbers of sport fishermen account for a large portion of this 

 country's catch of saltwater fish and have a substantial impact on the econ- 

 omy in many coastal areas. It is estimated that some 9.5 million saltwater 

 anglers made recreational fishing a $1.4 billion business in 1970. The Federal 

 view of commercial fishing and sport fishing has increasingly become one 

 of a single, collective living resource, with advantages to all constituents. 



