90 



creased use of fishmeal in livestock feeds con- 

 tinue to expand demand for a broad range of 

 fish and shellfish products. Demand for these 

 products has grown even more spectacularly 

 in the less developed areas, where protein 

 deficiencies are chronic. These are precisely 

 the areas in which population growth is 

 greatest. There can be little doubt that the 

 world demand for food from the sea will 

 continue to press production capacity for 

 the foreseeable future. Moreover, as modem 

 technology provides the means for altering 

 the form, texture, and keeping qualities of 

 fish, the increased diversity of food products 

 from the sea should lead to even stronger 

 demand. 



Although revolutionary developments in 

 high seas fishing technology have greatly ex- 

 panded the range and efficiency of modem 

 fishing equipment, harvesting techniques in 

 many parts of the world are still extremely 

 primitive. The processing and marketing sec- 

 tors of the industry are considerably more 

 advanced, but they still have far to go before 

 they reach the technical level of other seg- 

 ments of the food industry. Full utilization of 

 the potential for food from the sea requires 

 full attention to the research and develop- 

 ment that will convert the worldwide fishing 

 industry into a 7nodem segment of a modern 

 food industry. 



The spectre of himger and malnutrition, 

 haunting mankind from the beginning of 

 time, threatens to become more acute over 

 wider areas of the world. Considerable at- 

 tention and publicity have been given to the 

 use of the ocean's resources to combat world 

 food problems. Although marine food sources 

 will never be sufficient to solve these prob- 

 lems, they should play an important role in 

 the solution. The nuti-itional qualities of 

 marine food products, their worldwide dis- 

 tribution, and the relative ease with which 

 they can be produced in areas of critical need 



make it vitally important that the world use 

 them efficiently. Only a handful of highly de- 

 veloped nations are capable of providing ade- 

 quate diets for the bulk of their populations. 

 Until world population growth is brought 

 under control, all possible sources of food 

 from land and sea must be exploited. 



For the foreseeable future, overall calorie 

 requirements of the human diet can be met 

 from land production. But ocean food pro- 

 duction is important in world nutrition as a 

 source of edible oils and proteins with a well- 

 balanced amino acid structure. These needs of 

 themselves are sufficiently large and urgent 

 to compel a greatly accelerated effort at both 

 national and international levels, and within 

 both government and industry to overcome 

 scientific, technologic, and institutional bar- 

 riers to a more efficient and expanded harvest- 

 ing of the ocean's food resources. 



The United States can give strength and 

 momentum to this effort through the example 

 of its own policies and programs and through 

 vigorous support of multilateral fisheries de- 

 velopment programs of the Food and Agri- 

 culture Organization of the United Nations, 

 the United Nations Development Program, 

 the World Bank, and other international 

 agencies. Action by the United States to up- 

 grade the teclmical capability of its own fish- 

 eries will develop new techniques and prod- 

 ucts, such as fish protein concentrates, that 

 will benefit the entire world industry. Fur- 

 thermore, U.S. firms can expect both to par- 

 ticipate in the expanding markets of the 

 developing nations and to contribute to their 

 programs to overcome deficiencies in j^rotein 

 foods. 



Principles of Fisheries Management 



Sensible fisheries management must pre- 

 vent overexploitation of heavily utilized 

 species and, at the same time, provide incen- 



