Recommendation : 



Specific representative sites should be selected for 

 careful, prolonged study to permit the accumula- 

 tion of basic knowledge essential for understand- 

 ing the statics and dynamics of the coastal regime. 



B. Development of Living Resources 



Providing food for a burgeoning world popula- 

 tion is one of the most critical problems facing 

 mankind. Insuring adequate supplies of fish can 

 contribute in significant ways to the solution of 

 these problems. 



1. Fisheries— Traditional and New 



Efficient management of traditional fisheries 

 depends upon additions to basic understanding, 

 particularly the relationships between environ- 

 mental conditions and infancy and egg survival. It 

 is necessary to understand the interaction of 

 competitor-predator systems. Better correlations 

 between envirormiental conditions and fish abun- 

 dance, accompanied by better monitoring and 

 prediction, should enable fishermen to work more 

 productively and efficiently. 



The most urgent need for scientific information 

 in new fisheries is for rapid means of stock 

 assessment. 



Recommendation : 



A continued and expanded effort should be 

 directed toward achieving a basic understanding of 

 such key problems as fish population dynamics, 

 the effect of environmental conditions on fish 

 population, and the dynamics of multi-species 

 systems under predation. 



2. Aquaculture 



Progress has been severely limited by the lack 

 of information on the genetics and breeding of 

 potentially valuable species, food requirements of 

 juvenile organisms, disease, and optimum environ- 

 mental conditions. 



Recommendation : 



Major new efforts directed toward the understand- 

 ing of the reproduction, growth, and development 



of potentially exploitable marine organisms should 

 be undertaken to provide the base of understand- 

 ing and technology necessary to make the 

 products of aquaculture more available. 



C. Development of Mineral Resources 



The principal limitations are in technology, 

 exploration, and economics. Further exploitation 

 depends to a great degree upon the preparation of 

 adequate inventories. The principal needs are for 

 topographic, geophysical, and geologic mapping 

 and charting. 



Little is known about the mechanism of forma- 

 tion of materials on the deep ocean floors, 

 especially the ferro-manganese nodules. 



Recommendation : 



The basic science effort required to achieve the 

 understanding of the planet (see Basic Science- 

 Key to Understanding Our Planet) should be 

 supported as a necessary National effort to provide 

 the basic geological and geophysical knowledge of 

 the oceans required for the National program of 

 marine mineral resource development. 



D. Environmental Monitoring and Prediction 



The need for an environmental observation and 

 prediction services goes far beyond marine in- 

 terests, although they are vitally concerned. Three 

 major problem areas require immediate expansion 

 of basic research: The interchange of matter and 

 energy between sea and atmosphere, the dynamics 

 of ocean currents, and the nature of different 

 scales of motion in the sea. Envirormiental mon- 

 itoring is technology -limited; environmental pre- 

 diction is science-limited. 



Recommendation : 



Extensive field experiments should be conducted 

 to describe physical processes associated with 

 ocean fluctuations. Parallel efforts in geophysical 

 fluid dynamics should be mounted which can 

 provide the theoretical and practical framework 

 for the establishment of physical techniques for 

 ocean prediction. 



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