ECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS 



Economic considerations are discussed in detail in Ref. 2 and are certainly of major 

 importance in OFEF site selection. For Phase 1 experimental farms, the factors of produc- 

 tion and transport costs are not a consideration. However, because these early prototype 

 farms will have hmited budgets and will be designed essentially to prove the OFEF concept, 

 it is important that they be located in reasonable proximity to scientific and logistic support. 

 Approximately 30 kilometers maximum (2-hour transit) is considered an appropriate dis- 

 tance for adequate scientific support and study of Phase 1 farms. This distance will limit the 

 site initially to a near-shore (coast or island) location in the vicinity of a marine laboratory 

 or facility. For large moored OFEF systems, the depth of the bottom is an important factor. 

 For depths greater than 610 meters the mooring costs become excessive. This depth limita- 

 tion is not highly significant for Phase 1 and 2 farms because of their small size (610-meter 

 water is available) and relaxed economic requirements. For Phase 3 and the future, however, 

 it is not likely that large farms can economically be anchored; they will probably be dynami- 

 cally positioned and so will not be geographically limited by bottom contour. 



OFEF should presently remain outside claimed territorial and economic zones of 

 other countries until mutual international agreements are made. Currently most South and 

 Central American countries and Mexico have claimed 200-mile (322-kilometer) economic or 

 territorial zones, and it now appears certain that the U.S. will do the same by March 1977. 

 Figure 1 gives the approximate 322-kilometer economic zone boundaries. With economic 

 zone exclusion of the 322 kilometers around Guadalupe Island, the islands south of Baja 

 California, and the Galapagos Islands, much of the open ocean areas as well as all the coastal 

 regions south of 32°30'N are removed from OFEF site availability at the present time. 



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