CHAPTER in 



MAN, SOCIETY, AND THE SEA: FEDERAL 

 SUPPORT FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 



The expansion of Federal ocean activities has been accompanied by a 

 growing sensitivity to the social and economic aspects of marine and 

 coastal resource use and development. The Sea Grant Program of the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the major source 

 of Federal support for research on the social and behavioral aspects of 

 marine affairs. But other agencies have supported research on the social 

 aspects of marine resource development, including the National Science 

 Foundation (NSF), the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Environmental Protection Agen- 

 cy (EPA), the Departments of State and the Interior, and the Smithso- 

 nian Institution. Nearly all the federally supported research in marine- 

 related social science is directed toward the solution of specific 

 problems — for examples, the economics of marine resource use, coastal 

 zone management, offshore powerplant siting, deep-water ports, and the 

 law of the sea. 



Living Resource Economics 



The use of ocean food and minerals frequently hinges on the distribu- 

 tion of costs and benefits to consumers and producers of these products. 

 Specific problems examined by Sea Grant researchers involve the 

 economic aspect of fish marketing, aquaculture, fisheries management, 

 and the operation of boats and ports. As examples, studies are looking at 

 the marketing channels for fresh sea food, the development of finfish 

 marketing systems, potential international markets for mullet, and pro- 

 duction costs and returns for the Texas shrimp industry. Other projects 

 concern the economic aspects of aquaculture, such as the economics of 

 salmonid culture in New England, and the income and market potential 

 of aquaculture systems for cold-water fish. 



One major concern of investigators supported by Sea Grant is the im- 

 plication of extended jurisdiction by the United States over its coastal 



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