ance and the reduction of our dependence on imports 
of specific commodities.t In 1966 the Panel on 
Oceanography of the President’s Science Advisory 
Committee (PSAC) expressed alarm about the 
growth of world population vis-a-vis food supplies 
and suggested that increasing the availability of fish 
products might help reduce protein deficiencies.* In 
1968 a study prepared for the National Council on 
Marine Resources and Engineering Development 
examined the development potential of fossil fuels, 
minerals, and other nonliving resources of the US. 
continental shelves.* Other Council studies reviewed 
more specialized aspects of marine development, 
such as the economics of fish protein concentrate, 
economic aspects of solid waste disposal at sea, eco- 
nomic factors in coastal zone development, and 
multinational investment in ocean activity. 
The optimism about ocean resource development 
that generally characterized the 1960s was exempli- 
fied in a Department of the Interior pamphlet, Ma- 
rine Resources Development, A National Opportu- 
nity. Published in 1969, this pamphlet used then- 
current estimates of population growth to project 
a turn-of-the-century U.S. population of 315 million 
—considerably higher than current estimates. It con- 
cluded that the increased demand generated by a 
population of this size could only be met by ex- 
panded exploitation of ocean resources. Estimates of 
ocean resource potentional included the statement 
that “even the most conservative estimates of the 
food potential of the sea predict that the ocean can 
supply minimum animal protein needs for twice the 
present world population. If we can learn how to 
use the much more abundant marine animals, not 
now harvested at reasonable costs, we might increase 
this harvest ten-fold.” The pamphlet was similarly 
optimistic about the potential of marine fossil fuels 
and minerals. 
An attempt to assess more realistically the value 
of ocean resources and ocean uses to the United 
States was undertaken in 1974 by Robert R. Nathan 
Associates for the Senate National Ocean Policy 
Study. The report, The Economic Value of Ocean 
Resources to the United States, attempted to assign 
dollar values to the various activities involving the 
ocean. Where no resoure estimates existed, the con- 
sulting firm made the best estimates it could. The 
study found that primary economic activity involving 
ocean resources totaled $7.5 to $7.8 billion in 1973 
dollars. Projections for 1985 were $23 to $26 bil- 
lion. The figures do not include a value for use of 
the ocean for waste disposal. 
The three broad categories of use were living re- 
sources ($800 million in 1972), mineral resources 
($3.4 billion in 1973), and nonextractive ocean uses 
($3.5 billion in 1972). 
Projections of ocean use at the end of the century 
by Nathan Associates were that energy use, par- 
ticularly floating nuclear powerplants, would surpass 
all other uses except production and transportation 
of oil and natural gas. 
: Fisheries 
of protein in the US. diet, after meat, poultry, and 
dairy products. The demand for fish and shellfish, 
however, has risen modestly in recent years. In the 
1950s and 1960s, per capita consumption averaged 
less than 11 pounds per year. In the first 7 years of 
the 1970s, per capita consumption was somewhat 
over 12 pounds per year; consumption of fish caught 
for recreation adds to this figure. 
U.S. fish consumption has increased despite rising 
prices of fish and fish products which have generally 
exceeded price increases for meat and poultry. The 
consumption rise can be attributed to growing de- 
mand for high-cost fish _and_ shellfish varieties and 
convenience foods, such as frozen fish fillets, fish 
sticks, and breaded shrimp. These consumption pat- 
terms have resulted in the concentration of demand 
on shellfish, tuna, salmon, and groundfish. These 
species accounted for 81 percent of the total value 
of U.S. landings for 1976. The same species also ac- 
counted for over two-thirds of the cost of imports 
of edible fish that year. 
In 1976, a total of 63_percent-of the U.S. supply 
of edible fishery products was imported, and the 
balance of payments deficit for all fishery product 
imports was $1.9 billion. 
Oil and Gas 
One of the major worldwide problems of the 
1970s has been the “energy crisis.” This problem is 
the result of escalating demand on limited resources 
' National Security Industrial Association, Ad Hoc Committee 
on Ocean Science and Technology. A National Ocean Program. 
Washington, D.C., 1964. 
? Report of the Panel on Oceanography of the President's 
Science Committee. Effective Use of the Sea. Washington, D.C., 
of oil and natural gas. Because of diminishing 
domestic resources in the face of increasing demand, 
Government Printing Office, 1966. 
*Feonomic Associates Incorporated, for the National Council 
on Marine Resources and Engineering Development. The Eco- 
nomic Potential of the Mineral and Botanical Resources of the 
U.S. Continental Shelf and Slope. Washington, D.C., 1968. 
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