26 



FESH PKOTEIN CONCENTRATE 



Technological progress has resulted in methods of utilizing that part 

 of the fish catch that is not considered at this time to have the qualities 

 preferred for the dinner table. So-called "trash" fish can now be proc- 

 essed into a tasteless, odorless powder called Fish Protein Concentrate. 

 FPC powder is 75 per cent protein, one pound of which is equivalent 

 to 5I/2 ])ounds of beef or ^i/^ pounds of non-fat powdered milk. At 

 about 40 cents a pound, it is a cheap source of protein that can be added 

 to staple foods such as bread, pasta, soup, and other foods, to supply 

 the minimum daily requirement of protein. The potential of this 

 product in alleviating protein deficiencies and combatting worldwide 

 disease and hunger offers one answer to the problem of feeding the 

 multiplying numbers of the human population. 



AQUACULTURE 



The change in man's techniques from hunting the ocean to farm- 

 ing it has progressed in ^reat strides. Although domesticat- 

 ing and herding marine animals, and planting and hai-vesting 

 marine plants, are not nearly on a scale comparable with such prac- 

 tices on land, aquaculture techniques have been known and practiced 

 for hundreds of years. Eecent developments, however, have been 

 evident throughout the world, and aquaculture farms for the produc- 

 tion of sea food are being established according to scientific specifica- 

 tions which control the organisms from the breeding stages through 

 marketing and distribution. Aquafarms are not confined totally to 

 estuaries and sea shores, and many of them are found farther inland.^^ 



Acquaculture is by no means confined to finfish. It includes also shell- 

 fish like ovsters and clams, crustaceans lilve lobsters and shrimp, and 

 such oddities as turtles and bloodworms. Throughout the world, the 

 volume of the products of aquaculture has grown to a total of 4 mil- 

 lion tons. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 

 estimates that by 1985 world aquaculture could expand to 20 million 

 tons. 



DRUGS FROM THE SEA 



In utilizing the living resources of the sea, the extraction of medic- 

 inal and pharmaceutical products is often little known and unpub- 

 licized. However, the use of ocean organisms for medicinal purposes 

 has been known since the early civilization of the Chinese and in Bibli- 

 cal times. Nowadays, thousands of marine organisms are known to 

 contain biotoxic substances and yet fewer than 1 percent have been 

 closely examined or thoroughly evaluated for their medicinal charac- 

 teristics. Marine biomedicine has been gaining prominence, and more 

 attention is being focused on the potential of the ocean environment as 

 a source of new medical discoveries and new drusrs. 



37 A good example in the United States is to be found in Arkansas where gross sales 

 from aquaculture exceeried iflS million in 1969. Elsewhere, during a recent visit to 

 Lebanon, the author was surprised to learn that the trout served in the restaurants of 

 Beirut is supplied locally from an inland aquafarm. In a most unlikely place near the 

 inland town of Jezzine, he visited a trout farm hardly noticeable to the unsuspecting 

 visitor. The concrete ponds were built on terraces, clinging precariously to the steep slope 

 typical of the rugged Lebanese mountains. The ponds were teeming with healthy trout in 

 all stages of growth, and the whole venture appeared to be a viable and lucrative business. 



