396 



Mr. Lennon. Thank you. 



Mr. BiAGGi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Clark, your presentation is salutary. 



On the question of where you projected industry in relation to the 

 proteins resources and the like, I posed a question earlier to the pre- 

 ceding witness, Mr. Pierce, and received a general response which 

 really was not as detailed as I would like. 



He stated that the program would be received with as much enthusi- 

 asm, if not more than, the current space program. 



My observation was that the space program's enthusiasm is waning 

 despite the successes because of the economics of the day and the needs 

 domestically, hence a proposal to undertake this oceanograjohy pro- 

 gram might not be received as well by the people unless we can 

 justify it. 



The question I asked w^as, what would be the spinoff, what would be 

 the immediate returns to the public ? 



I wonder if I could obtain from you something more specific, some- 

 thing that could be translated and quickly recognized by the laymen as 

 justification for this program. 



Mr. Clark. I am trying to search for a direct w^ay of answering this 

 question that the laymen could feel and sense, like putting up a new^ 

 apartment building in a ghetto area of the city that he could move into 

 and feel and sense. I think there is a lot of competition for funds, in 

 the social area here, if I have the thrust of your question. This is some 

 of the thrust of it, perhaps. 



Mr. BiAGGi. Confined to the construction of the ghetto areas or so- 

 cial problems, let us deal with food problems, why can't this protein 

 process be just as effectively handled on shore from the practical point 

 of view. What would be the difference ? 



We talk about minerals. How^ necessary are these minerals ? What 

 impact would they have on the Nation or on people ? 



Those are just a few things that come to my mind. 



Mr. Clark. Yes. I can answer the question for the country and for 

 people and their future, but to be able to say that if we put a lot of 

 money into FPC, that the man in the street is going to be able to eat 

 better and get more protein in the United States, I think the FPC, you 

 know, this food from the sea talk, is a way of making the man in the 

 street feel the program and has really been overdone. This perhaps is 

 not in line with many people's feelings on this. 



I must say that I think it has to come down to economics. We are 

 in a research area on FPC and the economics are still in question, as 

 far as I can determine, and the sources to which I am exposed, as op- 

 posed to other sources of protein. 



I think here we are dealing with the security of the country. We 

 are dealing with our natural resources. We are dealing with weather. 

 I think on better forecasting of the weather, for instance, as an indi- 

 vidual I hardly ever look at the weather forecast because it is so un- 

 reliable. I am asked what is the weather forecast for today. I rarely 

 know what it is because I don't plan on the basis of the forecasting 

 that is done now because, as I say, it is unreliable. This is not a criti- 

 cism. It is just the primitive state of the art. 



Maybe weather, this touches everyone, if we could show through 

 ESSA and through the buoy program, which, as you know, I think 



