NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 259 



1924-5 : Extensive docunientatioii to justify the proposed Naval Oceanographic 

 Expedition to be called the Manry-United States Naval Oeeanographic Re- 

 search (See the Literary Digest, Sept. 15), 1925, Journal of Geology vol. 32, No. 

 8, 1924 editorial, pp. 690-695). 



1931 : "Oceanography," Henry B. Bigelow, Houghton Mifflin Co. 



1937: "International Aspects of Oceanography," T. Wayland Vaughn et al., 

 National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. 



1952: "Oceanography 1951," National Academy of Sciences Committee on 

 Oceanography Report, NAS-NRC Pub. 208, Washington, D.O. 



1959 : "Oceanography 1960-70," chapter 9, Ocean-Wide Surveys, National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences Committee on Oceanography Report, NAS-NRC, Washing- 

 ton, D.C. 



1963 : "National Plan for Ocean Surveys," Interagency Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy, ICO Pamphlet No. 7, Washington, D.C. 



1963: "The Global Sea," Harris B. Stewart, Jr., D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, 

 N.J. 



1963 : "Oceanography, The Ten Years Ahead," Interagency Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy, ICO Pamphlet No. 10, Washington, D.C. 



1964: "General Scientific Framework for World Ocean Studies" (draft) Inter- 

 governmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO, Paris. 



1965 : "User Requirements and National Ocean Survey Program Planning," 

 H. Nisselson, Operations Research, Inc., Technical Report No. 311, one of a 

 series of reports on the national ocean survey program made to the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. 



Some of the requirements for ocean surveys will be summarized but the 

 detailed justifications and spelling out of the requirements are contained in the 

 documentation listed above. The most important material resources of the 

 sea today and probably for many years to come are the animals and plants. In 

 Euroiie and North America only 5 to 20 percent of the animal protein in human 

 diet comes from the sea, and in many other nations this is considerably larger 

 and forms an indispensable part of the human diet. The world's ocean fish- 

 eries increased from 25 to 40 million metric tons between 1955 and 1962, and this 

 rate of increase (about 7 percent each year) will be maintained or even in- 

 creased in the near future. Fishmeal for feeding poultry and livestock was 

 produced at the rate of about 4 million tons in 1955 and was up to nearly 10 

 million tons in 1961. The human population of earth took about 10,000 years 

 to reach a total of 1 billion persons by the year 1830. Yet this figure was don- 

 bled between 1830 and 1930. a mere 100 years. In the 35 years since 1930 we 

 have added still another billion. At this rate tJiere will be 6 billion persons on 

 earth by the year 2000, and in a mere 600 years there will be only 1 square yard 

 of living space i)er person. The growth rate of the human population demands 

 that new food sources be developed. The present growth rates of oceanic 

 fisheries cannot be maintained for many more years unless oceanic investiga- 

 tions on a worldwide scale are carried out to ascertain (1) the ocean condi- 

 tions that bring about economically catchable fish concentrations, (2) the 

 locations and sizes of fish populations and how these vary with variations in 

 the oceanographic conditions, and (3) those aspects of fish behavior that can 

 be exploited to reduce the costs of catcMng fish. 



Of the utmost importance is the determination of the large-scale changes in 

 the physical characteristics of the waters of the sea and the causes for them. 

 The correlation of such changes with changes in the fish catch is known to be 

 high where such environmental changes have actually been measured, but these 

 instances are presently few. The tremendous anchovy fishery off the west coast 

 of South America, for example, suffers almost total destruction with the occur- 

 rence of the warm surface water called el niiio covering the normally cooler 

 upwelled water v»'hich contains a rich abundance of fish. Mass mortalities of 

 both fish and the guano birds that feed on them are common, yet the causes tor 

 el nifio are still unknown. The ocean survey program includes the systematic 

 measurement of the water characteristics which the fisheries oceanographers 

 need to obtain the more complete picture of the interrelationship of the fish 

 and his environment that is required for an increased catch. The fisherma)] 

 must be able to anticipate major changes in the oceanic environment to improve 

 his efficiency and lower his costs per ton. Needed here is the regular periodic 

 production of maps of the world ocean that show existing conditions and point 

 out anomalies and comparisons with earlier synoptic m'aps. Similarly, the 

 environmental conditions in especially important fishing grounds should be 



