398 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



showing that they are independent and not even necessarily in their own best 

 long-range interest. 



(2) In 1945 our knowledge of the ocean and its resources was not markedly 

 different than it was in 1905, and the situation by 1955 was only beginning to 

 change. In the past 10 years we have learned more about the ocean and its re- 

 sources than we knew totally in 1955, and ocean knowledge and understanding 

 is just now beginning to develop rapidly as the ocean science and technology of 

 the United States, Russia, and many other nations spurts forward. 



It seems certain that our knowledge of the ocean and its resources in 1975 

 will bear only a modest relationship to our present knowledge and understand- 

 ing of these things. I do not think we can sensibly predict at the moment what 

 the ocean use problems will be in 1975. 



(.3) The important players in the game in 1965 have quite different rank, 

 status, and objectives than they had in 1955. 



In that year Peru was not even considered to be a fishing country ; in 1964 

 it became Ihe biggest fishing country in the world in terms of volume of catch. 



In 1955 the geographical position of Iceland was critical to the NATO alli- 

 ance; in 1965 long-range jet airplanes, nuclear-iwwered submarines carrying 

 Polaris missiles, and other weapons and logistic systems have rather strikingly 

 changed the military parameters of this problem. 



In 1955 France was a lesser factor diplomatically in amongst the other na- 

 tions of Western Europe, and the United Kingdom was still strong; in 1965' 

 France assumes a quite different diplomatic rank and is not disposed to accept 

 much guidance from the United States, or any other nation. 



In 1955 Japan and Germany were still r'ecently defeated nations knitting up- 

 the wounds of war, repairing their economies, and being very cautious diplo- 

 matically ; in 1965 both stand among the rich, powerful, industrial countries and 

 assume steadily the stronger diplomatic posture that goes with these things. 

 In 1955 the United States stood next only to Japan as a fishing nation andl 

 Russia was a largely land power ; in 1965 the United States stands about fifth 

 in the rank of fishing nations ; Russia has double the fishing power the United 

 States has, is still rapidly advancing in that field, and is now setting out with 

 what appears so far to be successful efforts to similarly overtake and pass the 

 United States in the merchant marine field, etc., etc. 



(4) The production of fish from the world ocean has doubled in the past 10 

 years ; it has been increasing at the rate of S percent per year in the past 5^ 

 years ; and the rate of increase appears still to be increasing. This has brought 

 a whole new range of conditions. 



(5) Mining fur oil and gas at sea in 1945 was experimentally possible; in 

 1955 comanercially possible ; and in 1965 has become one of the major world 

 industries. The JPersian Gulf has about as many oil wells in it as around it; 

 the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are being explored for production as if the 

 water was not there, etc., etc. 



(6) People were thinking about scuba diving in 1945 and in 1955 it was 

 beginning to be a sport. Now the ocean has scuba divers in it like it formerly 

 had swimmers on it ; men have lived for weeks at 50-f athom depths in undersea- 

 houses built for the purpose; it is evident that there are no physical, psycho- 

 logical, or physiological reasons why men cannot work for useful periods to 

 depths of 100 fathoms ; and there is no reason to think that men will not be 

 prospecting the whole Contiental Shelf as thoroughly as they do the land in a 

 few year,s, and perhaps more safely than they have done the western deserts 

 and mountains. The wealth of the Continental Shelf is about to be tapped 

 thoroughly. 



(7) Vast deposits of highly valuable minerals (manganese, vanadium, cobalt, 

 nickel, etc.) have been found on the deep seabed in such profusion as to stagger 

 tlie imagination and steps are already afoot to bring them to harvest. Not only 

 are those deposits so large as to be able to provide the whole world industry 

 with its needs for these metals for a thousand years, but some of them appear 

 to be being deposited at a rate gi'eater than total world use at present. 



(8) In 1945 we could say stoutly tht i^s5liatics shoulrl fish on salmon from^ 

 Asiatic streams and stay away from our side of tiie ocean in salmon fishing; in 

 1965 we know that salmon from Asiatic streams can be caught commercially in 

 the Gulf of Alaska, and salmon from Alaskan streams can be caught similarly 

 off the Asiatic foreshore. Bluefin tuna tagged off Mexico are caught in the Sea 

 of Japan ; others tagged off Bermuda are caught off Norway and France ; those 

 tagged off Norway are caught in the Mediterranean. Skipjack tuna tagged off 



