MARINE SCIENCE 69 
Yet the high seas directly adjacent to Nigeria are full of sardine, shrimp, 
lobster, tuna, and a variety of sea fishes sufficient not only to satisfy fully the 
needed protein component of the Nigerian diet but also to provide a surplus of 
eminently salable products. 
While the situation of Nigeria has been discussed in some detail the descrip- 
tion reasonably well sets forth the conditions in Angola, the Congo, the French 
Cameroons, Togo, Dahomey, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra 
Leone, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauretania as well. 
The fisheries of the high seas off west Africa have begun to be harvested in 
the past 5 years by fishermen of the United States, Russia, Poland, France, 
Japan, Norway, Nationalist China, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. While 
most of these have begun with tuna, the trawl fisheries are being developed on 
a considerable scale. 
The Russians (being state-owned and not under the necessity of showing a 
profit) have gone ahead at a more rapid rate than have the independent 
American vessels and companies. In particular, they have developed an im- 
portant trawl fishery for sardine off Ghana and the nearby area. They have 
expanded this fishery rapidly and have had (with satellites Poland and East 
Germany) at least 17 large trawlers and motherships working the west African 
area during the last half of 1960. 
Having discovered not only the abundance of fish offshore but the need for 
fish among the inhabitants of these countries, the Russians are now moving 
in rapidly to take political gain from putting these two factors together. 
Whereas the Russians originally intended to use the fish catches solely for 
home consumption, they quickly realized the benefits to be gained from allow- 
ing important quantities to be marketed locally. Additionally, our private 
commercial lines of intelligence inform us that within the last 6 months Poland 
in Guinea and Russia in Ghana have agreed to equip these respective countries 
with modern fishing industries, vessels, gear, processing plants, repair yards 
for fishing vessels, marketing studies, technical aids, and training for their 
people in fisheries and fisheries science. 
Two of our companies (Star-Kist Foods, Inc., in Ghana, and Van Camp Sea 
Food Co., Inc., in Sierra Leone) have made modest beginnings in the area, are 
prepared to do more, and other companies have become similarly interested. 
These privately owned corporations and entities are unable, however, to com- 
pete in any successful degree with the fishery largess now being offered by 
Communist governments in the area. 
We believe that the United States through the International Cooperation 
Administration and otherwise is fully competent to move in on worthwhile 
fishery projects desired by such governments as Nigeria, for instance, and by 
such international agencies as the Commission for Technical Cooperation in 
Africa South of the Sahara (CCTA/CSA), which cauld provide these peoples 
with the aids they need to help themselves modernze and make efficient their 
fish productive industries without political ties to Communist countries. 
Our people are experienced and knowledgeable in the area and in fish pro- 
duction, processing, and marketing. We do not like to see Communist political 
advantage being gained in fields in which Americans are particularly proficient 
and competent to do the job. 
We and our members would like to be able to help you and the U.S. Govern- 
ment in this matter in any appropriate manner. Attached hereto is a copy of 
a letter to Mr. Labouisse, International Cooperation Administration, that sets 
forth in more detail this problem and suggests four more or less specific projects 
of the sort which we believe the Department of State, Department of the In- 
terior, and the International Cooperation Administration could usefully under- 
take in the area, and in some of which the U.S. Navy may have more than a 
casual interest. 
Sincerely yours, 
CHAS. R. Carry, 
Hzecutive Director. 
W. M. CHAPMAN, 
Director, the Resources Committee. 
The Crarrman. We will recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning. 
(Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m. the committee adjourned, to reconvene 
at 9:30 a.m. , Thursday, March 16, 1961.) 
