210 SEA GRANT COLLEGES 



grees. In some cases the expression of "need" has arisen from enthusiasts and 

 has been undertaken on the basis of this enthusiasm without adequate economic 

 analysis. Desalination programs have suffered from this ill. 



In other cases, the significance of the development has been judged from an 

 inadequate, partial, or anachronistic basis. 



A few examples will clarify this point : 



(a) Domestic fisheries as operational and technological tests and experience. — 

 It is clear that many of the domestic fisheries of the United States have sufilered 

 from a decline in product and effectiveness. These declines are partly the re- 

 sult of a long period during which the technical development of fisheries has 

 been suppressed as an element of control in management. Additional constraints 

 have been imposed by legislative pressure from conservationists and noncom- 

 mercial users such as sportfishermen. When economically appraised as simple 

 producers of fishery products, revival of these fisheries appears to be only modest- 

 ly rewarding. Thus the pressure of recreational users may dominate even 

 where no justification exists. The record of a number of fisheries shows, how- 

 ever, that the greatest rewards have ensued where fishing techniques and product 

 practice, developed in domestic waters have been extended into new waters else- 

 where. The tuna and fishmeal industry are important cases in point, where 

 the exported know-how has been spectacularly rewarding to domestic entre- 

 preneurs and investors. 



We should thus look at the economics of domestic fisheries in this mder view. 

 Particularly now, when new tools and approaches permit management to be 

 carried on at a much more sophicticated level, this management know-how also 

 becomes an exportable product. 



(6) Noncommercial iises of the ocean. — Many of the present and continuing 

 domestic conflicts in the uses of the environment stem from our drive toward 

 the recreational and esthetic uses and our cultural inability to set up decision 

 criteria by which these uses can be evaluated in comparison with the conven- 

 tional practical employment of the environment. This defect in our decision- 

 making process extends, of course, into many areas other than the marine 

 realm. However, with incx'easing discretionary time on the hands of members 

 of our society, our domestic conflicts are increasing rapidly. 



An important point to note here is that conservationists and recreational 

 interests, in the absence of objective criteria for decision, have often been forced 

 to emotionalism and irrational actions and arguments in defense of their inter- 

 ests. A prime example of events of this nature is the attitude of the sports 

 interests in the newly established anchovy fishery off the west coast. 



Rather than dwelling on these conflicts, however, it is profitable to consider 

 what opportunities have been obscured by this lack of decision criteria. 



Undoubtedly there are many. Immediately at mind, however, are the following 

 that relate to the uses of the marine environment : 



(a) SuperstabJe platforms. — The implications of the superstable platforms, dis- 

 cussed previously, to marine and military science are obvious. However, their 

 implications to marine sports and recreation are equally great. After all, 

 they fundamentally solve one of the most powerful dissuaders of deep sea recrea- 

 tion — sea sickness. Offshore sports fishing platforms, midocean refuges and 

 supply bases, and, even, midocean hostelries become feasible. 



(6) Small toat harhors. — Recreational boat harbors, from a harbor engineer- 

 ing standpoint, have been considered to be miniature commercial harbors. 

 However, nature teaches us by example that small boat harbors can possess 

 completely unique characteristics based on their dimensions and nonlinear wave 

 refraction and that these are at once more useful and safer than harbors of 

 conventional design. 



(c) Recreational beaches. — For 20 years enough has been known of wave 

 refraction to understand, and perhaps duplicate the offshore configuration that 

 gives rise to the famous surfing beaches of the world. Yet this has not been 

 studied. The impact of constructing a great surfing beach near, let us say, Los 

 Angeles, can hardly be estimated. 



In these remarks, I have covered quite a range of examples. However, I, of 

 course, have omitted many more examples than I have included. I should have 

 also discussed w^eather control, bold transportation with icebergs or giant con- 

 tainers. Plowshare harbors, and the Red Sea power proposal. 



However, and, in summary, I have intended to demonstrate through these 

 categorized examples, the remarkable parallelism of broad ocean science and 

 ocean technology. 



