Chapter I 



ADDRESSING CRITICAL ISSUES 



Last year's Federal Ocean Program report to the Congress 

 identified a number of urgent national and international issues in the 

 use and conservation of the ocean and its resources. The report 

 focused on issues involving problems relating to energy questions 

 and the law of the sea, and the President, in his letter transmitting 

 the report to the Congress, also cited important problems in the 

 management of living resources and environmental changes in 

 coastal zones. New weapons to tackle some of these issues had been 

 provided by legislation in the 92nd Congress, but these laws were, 

 for the most part, very recent and had not as yet had much effect. 



The past year has been marked by an intensification of efforts to 

 address these issues. A series of studies, planning efforts and 

 changes in program emphasis has been undertaken to advance ocean 

 programs concerned with energy, environmental protection, and 

 living marine resources. The future of these programs will be 

 strongly influenced by a far-reaching new Congressional ocean 

 policy study and by the Third United Nations (U.N.) Conference of 

 the Law of the Sea, scheduled for later this year. This chapter will 

 summarize the scope of the ocean policy study and review U.S. 

 positions prepared for the Law of the Sea Conference before 

 discussing recent actions to assist in resolving energy and resources 

 problems. Successive chapters will feature accomplishments and 

 plans in specific areas of the Federal Ocean Program. 



It is believed that man's first use of the oceans was to harvest their seemingly 

 limitless food resources. Only recently have we begun to understand that these 

 resources are not limitless and that wise and effective conservation and 

 management measures are required for their preservation. 



