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«« IT 

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A netful of fish is swung aioard 

 a trawler at sea. Smc/i food resources 

 must be brought to fuller use to 

 meet protein deficiencies in certain 

 regions; for all nations fish offer 

 promise of a richer, more varied diet. 



needs will double in India, Pakistan, and cer- 

 tain Latin American nations. 



Experts are optimistic that we will meet 

 these resource needs, as we have met them 

 in the past. The prices of most basic com- 

 modities in the United States actually have 

 declined slightly relative to overall price 

 levels — indicating confidence in the future as 

 well as present abundance. But this should 

 not be taken as a signal to relax efforts to 

 develop new sources. Though on a. global 

 basis the estimated supply of most hard min- 

 erals from land sources appears adequate to 

 meet estimatied requirements at least until 

 the year 2000, such estimates are fraught with 

 much uncertainty. Appropriate action now 

 will jiermit us to prepare in an orderly way 

 to meet needs in the coming decades and to 

 enlarge the options for furnishing new 

 .streams of raw materials to sustain our grow- 

 ing economy. 



Marine sources already contribute impor- 

 tantly to our supplies of oil and gas; our 

 dependence on the sea for these materials is 

 certain to grow. The sea's food resources must 

 be used more fully to overcome protein de- 

 ficiencies in certain regions of the world ; they 

 offer all nations the promise of a richer, more 

 varied diet. 



The availability to the United States of 

 specific resources often is threatened by mis- 

 management, natural disasters, and political 

 developments. Therefore, the United States 

 must have alternative sources of supply. 

 Prudence demands continuing exploration 

 of new regions ; improvement of new extrac- 

 tion, harvesting, and processing technology ; 

 and proving of new reserves. It must be re- 

 membered, too, that accurate assessment of 

 resource potentials requires some experience 

 in their production. 



The Commission, in evaluating marine re- 

 source potentials, has considered the duality 

 of U.S. interests reflected by its national and 

 international roles. Accordingly, the Com- 

 mission rejects the idea that self-sufficiency 

 in natural resources is a desirable goal for 

 American policy. U.S. national policy clearly 

 recognizes the benefit to the international 

 community of expanding commerce in raw 

 materials. U.S. national policy recognizes 

 this fact in aiming to reduce progressively 

 the restrictions on international trade. Meas- 

 ures to assure some minimum level of domes- 

 tic production may be needed in certain cases 

 to protect the United States from politically 

 motivated actions that could curtail supplies 

 of petroleum or other key minerals. But it is 

 incumbent on tiie opponents of a policy 

 favoring a reasonable degree of freedom in 

 international trade to weigh the alternatives 

 and justify their costs to the American con- 

 sumer. Efforts to favor certain domestic in- 

 dustries are not in the national interest if 

 they raise production costs to levels which 



