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techniques to harvest and use the Hvmg resources of the sea. The 

 prospect that man may soon be able to gain new wealth from the sea 

 has fired much of the recent interest in marine affairs. 



The Commission's appraisal of the economic potential of marine 

 resources has been tempered by an appreciation of the institutional 

 and technical obstacles which must be surmounted to make signifi- 

 cant advances. But even hard estimates indicate great possibilities 

 for the future in continuing expansion of already large and profitable 

 offshore oil and gas operations. 



Rehabilitating and redirecting our commercial fisheries to improve 

 economic returns and to develop large latent resources off our coasts. 



Developing the new field of aquaculture. 



Mining placer minerals from the Continental Shelf and, within a 

 somewhat longer time span, recovering mineral deposits from the 

 deep sea floor. 



Economic uses of the sea are primarily a responsibility of the 

 private sector. There is, nevertheless, a large role for Government to 

 assist. Public policy should be directed to: (1) assuring that the United 

 States not be confronted with a critical shortage of any raw material 

 and (2) advancing economic efficiency in the development of both 

 marine and nonmarine resources. Further, the Commission recognized 

 that the U.S. interest in marine resources must be viewed in terms of 

 world needs and capabilities. 



A. Marine fisheries: Our Nation has a strong interest in advancing 

 development of the ocean's food resources. The race between popula- 

 tion and food supply has potentially explosive consequences and 

 every avenue must be employed to control it. Further, fishing is 

 important to the United States both in terms of providing Americans 

 with a more varied diet and of providing the basis for profitable in- 

 dustrial activity. 



About 66 percent of the world's fisheries harvest, and 72 percent 

 of the catch by U.S. boats, is taken in coastal waters. However, revo- 

 lutionary developments in fishing technology are causing rapid growth 

 in the exploitation of high seas fisheries, giving urgency to improving 

 arrangements for international fishery management and to setting up 

 cooperative programs to identify and assess potential yields of new 

 stocks. The Commission has proposed a number of steps to strengthen 

 the institutional frameworks for both high seas and domestic fisheries 

 which are aimed at increasing economic return from heavily utilized 

 species and at providing incentives to expand catches of under 

 utilized species. 



The welter of conflicting overlapping, and restrictive laws and regu- 

 lations applying to flshing operations in U.S. coastal waters is a major 

 impediment to the expansion of our domestic industry. In view of the 

 discouraging lack of coordination among State programs, the Com- 

 mission concludes that Federal leadership and guidance, and when 

 necessary, regulatory power must be asserted. The Commission has 

 also recommended removal of present legal restrictions on the use of 

 foreign-built vessels by U.S. fishermen in U.S. domestic fisheries and 

 an intensive effort through the proposed National Oceanic and Atmo- 

 spheric Agency (BCF) to analyze each major fishery off U.S. coasts 

 and to develop integrated research, survey, and technical programs 

 to. exploit those fisheries where opportunities for expansion exist. 



