Figure 8. Aquaculture (portrayed here is an artist's conception) is attractive because it offers 

 relief from the handicap of reliance on an uncertain common property resource. (Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries photo) 



the resource and harvest it is to his advantage to 

 improve his technology and management proce- 

 dures. Farming of shrimp, other crustaceans, fish, 

 and especially moUusks is possible at the edges of 

 the sea. It is even possible to envision aquaculture 

 operations sharing controlled water resources, 

 transportation, and space allocations with other 

 industries. For example, plans are being made to 

 use the waste heat from a power plant to warm the 

 water of an oyster farm on Long Island. 



IX. MARINE PETROLEUM EXPLOITATION 



The petroleum industry is the largest commer- 

 cial enterprise exploiting subsea mineral reserves. 

 The number of offshore oil, gas, and sulfur 

 facilities has increased dramatically in the past 10 

 years. Figure 10 shows the number of new oil 

 wells drilled each year in U.S. coastal waters. The 

 total presently existing is in excess of 1 6,000. 



Oil and gas exploitation locations are shown on 

 Figure 1 1 . Of particular significance is new activity 

 beginning off Alaska, the New England Coast, and 

 in Lake Erie. 



Current offshore oil production technology is 

 applied primarily to the design and installation of 

 fixe-l structures with platforms elevated above the 

 water. The largest of these, installed during 1968 

 in the Gulf of Mexico in 340 feet of water, 

 involves a total tower height of nearly 500 feet. 

 Designs for water depth of 600 feet are under 

 consideration. Similarly, structural towers with the 

 platform and equipment submerged to diver depth 

 are in design stages. 



Divers utilized by the oil industry are con- 

 stantly extending the Umits of diving capabiUty. 

 Saturated techniques with diver lockout and 

 decompression chambers have been developed. 

 Recent tests of divers performing functional tasks 

 on a simulated wellhead in 600 feet of water 



ni-23 



