16 SEA GRANT COLLEGES 



with a great seagoing tradition, and the second most productive 

 fishing port per dollar volume in the United States, I can best give 

 evidence, I believe, as to the practical effects this legislation will 

 have in benefiting those who earn their living from the sea and what 

 effect the programs envisioned by this legislation could have upon our 

 ability to elevate man's economic horizons. 



I have always felt that if great national problems and goals were 

 left entirely to the States and those people living in various areas of 

 our Nation, many of these problems would remain unsolved, and goals 

 would not be achieved. We find that over the last few years in the 

 United States, the President and the Congress have accepted this 

 philosophy and our Government is moving forward with great and 

 effective speed to assist in affording citizens everywhere the oppor- 

 tunity of a good education through massive Federal aid. We are 

 making a very concentrated attack upon the economic and social prob- 

 lems everywhere within this Nation and at all levels where substand- 

 ard economic conditions exist. We have also found that in order to 

 afford men their fundamental rights, equal dignity, and justice, it was 

 necessary that the Congress adopt the Civil Eights Act. 



The sea is certainly an area which has been given the least attention 

 by scientists, economists, and educators. It is, perhaps, fair to say 

 that we have as much information concerning outer space as we do 

 the waters off our immediate coast. I assume that if the total costs 

 of our space exploration programs were to be compiled, they would 

 range in the billions of dollars. The amount of money being spent 

 annually on exploration, education, training, and research in the 

 marine sciences would amount to only a very small fraction of this 

 amount. Yet, from the sea we have the ability to create a productivity 

 which can provide the natural resources to feed the starving people of 

 the entire earth, and open up new vistas to the light of human 

 knowledge. 



Marine scientists have estimated that 200 million tons of fish, at least 

 four times our present harvest, could be taken from the seas each year 

 without endangering future yield. This is an estimate based on ex- 

 ploitation of edible fish species. Is it unreasonable to expect that 

 scientists and those entrusted with our political destinies can make 

 it possible for man to cultivate and harvest crops from that 70 percent 

 of the world's surface which is now inundated by the sea? 



Eesearch and the acquisition of knowledge in the gainful use of 

 marine resources are necessary prerequisites for the transformation of 

 this knowledge into practical applications which can benefit mankind. 



I have no doubt that other scientists can wrest even greater supplies 

 of nutrition from our seas. If it is true that the oceans contain 4,000 

 tons of vegetation per square mile, we must know to what extent this 

 vast vegetable crop can be brought into controlled and useful food 

 crops through aquaculture. 



Many hundreds of thousands of men and women throughout the 

 United States earn their livelihood from industries allied to the sea. 

 Many more thousands of our young people could be gainfully em- 

 ployed in similar industries were we to reach a point in our marine 

 technology where we could translate the results of creative scientific 

 research into objective, practical application. I can envision the 

 whole sea coast of New England, and yes, the entire United States 

 booming in an orderly expansion brought about through the develop- 



