423 



gram. They are keeping it for themselves. They are fishing the world 

 markets and taking it home for their own use. 



Mr. Rogers. They are using a great deal for themselves, particularly 

 since they have had such difficulty with their own agriculture. To sup- 

 ply protein to the Eussian diet they have turned to protein from the 

 sea. 



With regard to the Russian diet, it may not be so much of an aid 

 program, but they are getting paid either in products or in actual 

 money and they are sending these fishing fleets all around Africa and 

 they can sell right there as they process the fish. 



I think we are far behind what they are doing in this area, and 

 certainly your agency can be helpful in bringing us a little more up 

 to date. In fact, I would hope you would encourage our own industry 

 to do this and that where they can sell it, it would be sold, and not 

 necessarily just given away. 



What is your attitude on that ? 



Mr. Parman". We have some ideas that we have been talking about 

 with regard to developing a straight commercial venture in that Afri- 

 can area which is going to take some money. It is not going to take just 

 peanuts; it is going to take several millions to do it. You will need 

 factory ships ; you can't operate if you don't have that. 



Mr. Rogers. I agree, we must modernize our fleets or we are just 

 going to be run off the seas. 



Mr. Parman. And we cannot just take a freighter and reconvert it. 

 We are kidding ourselves if we do that. We have to have a ship that 

 is a factory ship if it is to work at all. 



Mr. Rogers. I think you are correct in that. I would hope you would 

 keep this committee advised as you make progress. 



Mr. Pellt. In that connection, of course, this committee initiated 

 legislation to subsidize the construction of fishing vessels. Congress 

 authorized, I think, $5 million last year for this program and it was 

 awarded for the construction of two stern-ramp trawlers. It is a rather 

 substantial sum for two ships, $5 million, and so far as I know they 

 would not be able to process all of their catch. Maybe they could ; I am 

 not sure. As you say, it is going to take a lot of money when you think 

 of the number of vessels needed. I would hope, however, that this re- 

 quirement could be met by private industry and, if possible, without 

 construction subsidies. We have a loan program so fishermen can bor- 

 row money and we have done everything we can within reasonable 

 limits to try to expand our fisheries. Also, the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries has urged our fishing industry to make improvements and 

 become competitive in offshore fishing areas. 



Mr. Waters. With regard to encouraging the commercial people, I 

 did emphasize our efforts to build soundly on a fish concentrate use 

 program, but we feel very strongly it has to be a broader base than just 

 using the food donation programs. We believe the food donation pro- 

 grams can be a valuable starting incentive and be a way of getting 

 food acceptability, but we are very much concerned with getting it 

 on the store shelves to build an industry rather than just creat some- 

 thing for a temporary Government-subsidized market. That is prob- 

 ably why we haven't made as fast progress as we had hoped. However, 

 we are earmarking money to stimulate the domestic industry this 

 year. 



