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You can search through the full text of this book on the web at ittp//books.google.com4MARINE RESOURCES A Report to the Committee on Natural Resources National Academy of Sciences National Re: rch Council Publication 1000-€ Google‘This is one of seven special reports gupporting a regearch study of natura resources conducted by the National Academy of Sciences—National Re- search Council at the request of the President of the United States, Each of these seven supporting documents_was prepared under the supervision of a member of the Academy-Research Council Committee on Natural Resources, ho called upon the expert advice of a number of consultants to assis in ‘identifying the research needs and opportunities relating to the particular resource area or problem under tion. ‘The seven reports of supporting studies are as follows: ‘A. Renewable Resources B. Water D. Energy Resources E. Marine Resources F, Environmental Resources G. Social and Economic Aspects of Natural Resources ‘The general conclusions and recommendations of the Committee as fg gvhole ate presented in a summary report which has been forwarded to President Kennedy, together with the supporting studies. ‘The grateful thanks of the Committee on Natural Resources and of the Federal Covernment, for which these special reports were prepared, are due those whose experience and ideas are reflected in this report. Committee on Natural Resource: Deruev W. Bronk Sumer T. PIKE ‘The Rockefeller Institute Lubec, Maine Dean F. Frascut Rocer Reverie Union Carbide Ore Company Department of the Interior Epwin R. Gristanp ATHELSTAN SPILHAUS ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Minnesota M. Kine Huppert Paut Weiss Shell Development Company ‘The Rockefeller Institute Punuip M. Monse Gusert F. Ware ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Chicago Frank W. Novesren ‘ABEL WoLMAN Population Council, New York City Johns Hopkins University December, 1962MARINE RESOURCES A Report to the Committee on Natural Resources ofthe National Academy of Sclences—National Research Council by ‘Sumner T. Pike and Athelstan Spiihaus Co-chairmen of the Marine Resources Study Publication 1000-E National Academy of Sclencee—National Research Council Washington, D. C. 1962Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-60012 Requests for permission to reproduce or quote from the contents of this publication should be directed to the National Academy of Sciences. Such permission is not required of agencies of the United States Government.Discussion... . CONTENTS Recommended Research... . «+vasceey GoogleDISCUSSION ‘The resources of the sea are multitudinous and immens yet most of them are not exploited at all, while a few are in serious danger of depletion to the point of commercial exhaustion. ‘The minerals dissolved in sea water are, with minor excep- tions, not susceptible to commercial recovery. Of the living resources only comparatively few species are presently acceptable for human use. Some of the limiting factors in our present use of organic marine resources should be recalled to mind: 1, The ocean, covering over 70 per cent of the earth's sur- face to an average depth of 4,000 meters, is largely unexplored. 2. Only the upper 100 meters or so of the waters receive enough sunlight to allow photosynthesis to operate. In the sea, as on land, plant life (in the sea phytoplankton) is the sole source of the food chain. In the ocean the chain consists of at least three links, each one involving a loss of 80-90 per cent of food value before the end result is something that human beings are willing to eat. 3. The littoral, estuaries, and salt-water marshes are subjected to increasing modification and pollution with devastat- ing effects on anadromous fish and the many species which either spawn or spend part of their youth in shallow water 4. There is no ownership, or rather there is a common ownership, in the sea--once outside the three-mile, nine-mile, 12-mile, or other limits anyone can fish as he pleases with a few exceptions. There are some bilateral and multilateral inter- national limits in effect in a few areas for a few fisheries. 5. There is, thus, no fish farming or culture except for a very few fish, such as the salmon. The sea is in the hunting or wild-game stage. The law of capture prevails. 16. There is a vast ignorance of the biology and life history of almost all fishes. With minor exceptions, no one has ever observed the life history of a salt water pelagic fish from fertili- zation to maturity. 7. The living resources of the eem delicately respon- sive to minute changes in their surroundings, whether the changes be in salinity, temperature, or nutrient content. The ocean has apparently been about the same brand of soup for a hundred million years or more, with, perhaps, an extra dash of salt and with temperature extremes not much greater than those on a single brisk spring day on land, Evolution in the ocean has apparently been extremely slow, while environmental changes of hardly measurable size have resulted in radical changes in the size and location of fish populations. Infant-mortality rates, while always incredibly high, undergo violent fluctuations from year to year for reasons still largely unexplained. 8. Almost all fish, once removed from their natural element, undergo rapid deterioration. They thus demand early and drastic methods of preservation. In spite of all these difficulties, the fish of the sea form a substantial portion of the world's food and are susceptible to much greater use than has been made of them. Based on very inadequate data, it is estimated that a total of about 19 x 10) tona of carbon are annually synthesized into living organic matter and that, after passing through the food chain, from 18 x 10° to 14x 107 tons of carbon get to the harvestable crop of fish. This represents from 18 x 107 to 14 x 108 tons of available fish. The world's fish harvest is about 35 x 10° metric tons plus 3x 10° tons of whales, While one realizes (1) that these figur are rough in the extreme; (2) that the productiveness of ocean areas from deserts to oases may vary as much as 1 to 50; and (3) that a great but unmeasured part of the organic matter falls, when dead, to the bottom of the sea to be recovered slowly, if at all, there is still reason to believe that the total world catch of fish can be multiplied by a factor of at least five without resorting to radically new methods of capture. As far as the United States is concerned, per capita con- sumption has averaged about 11 pounds of fish a year; this has been 2upplied by our own fishermen plus considerable quantities of imports. We have never experienced any substantial shortages of fish food. However, the signs of higher exploitation of ocean resources by other countries, particularly the USSR and Japan, are now apparent, and, with the population growth evident in the world, it clearly to be expected that the pressure for harvesting more fish from the sea will increa: Other countries, especially around the Indian Ocean, face a much more serious and immediate problem--a chronic and general deficiency of dietary protein. Using the only rough figures available, it is estimated that 500 million people, many of them fronting on the Indian Ocean, are short by about 10 grams per day per capita of a reasonable amount of animal protein. Probably the cheapest and most efficient way to supply thi deficiency is through fish from the sea. A 50 per cent increase in the present harvest would meet this shortage. This is much more easily said than done. ‘The Indian Ocean is, from the fishing point of view, largely unexplored. It is to be hoped that the International Indian Ocean Expedition, now in its initial phases, will reveal new and promis- ing fishing grounds. ‘The problem of preservation in acceptable form at a price which this low-income area can afford to pay is difficult but probably can be solved. Refrigeration cannot be relied on as the answer. The delivered cost of fish at the retail shop would be astronomically beyond the means of the protein-deficient popula- tion even if refrigeration were available, which it isn't. Probably the most direct practicable answer is to reduce the catch to whole fish flour with a protein content of around 80 per cent. Present indications are that such a flour could be marketed at retail at around 20 cents per pound. Then there arises the question of making this product acceptable to a people hagridden with various taboo:Our Food and Drug Administration has declared such a whole-fish flour unfit for human consumption. This is no great help in this politically and socially unstable world. However, the need is so great and the benefits could be so enormous that even the bureaucratic obstacles must finally yield. Some of the necessary steps for better harvest and utilization of the living resources of the ocean have been outlined in the report of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Oceanography.RECOMMENDED RESEARCH Among the more urgent items for research attention are: 1, Mapping Great areas of the ocean are still unknown. The systematic oceanwide survey recommended in that report should go a long way toward filling thie gap. 2. Research Considering the vast ignorance of how and why fish act as they do from fertilization to death, it is difficult to suggest a starting point. The Committee on Oceanography has advanced some suggestions. Greatly increased research effort is espe- cially required along the following line: a. Greater attention to broadly based, comprehensive studies of marine communities and their interrelation- ships. Too great a share of research effort is now concentrated on short-term studies for immediate application to "emergency" situations. b. Studies of the factors controlling infant survival of oceanic fishes, through experimental studies in shore- side laboratories, closely integrated with studies at sea, to provide adequate understanding of this cause of great fluctuations in the fish stocks. Adequate facilities for such experimental studies exist nowhere in the United States. ¢. Studies of the behavior of fishes, which could lead to radically new and more efficient means of catching them. Large oceanarium-like laboratory facilities, which do not now exist, will be needed, as well as seagoing observational facilities. d. A much-needed type of facility, for this and other pur- poses, is a mesoscaphe, or medium-depth submarine,‘equipped for proper observation and sampling of marine organisms. e. Systematic ecological mapping of the sea, to provide guidance toward the most promising areas for develop- ment of new fisheries. f, Studies of the genetic structure and vital statistics of populations of commercial marine organisms, to provide a firmer basis of understanding of their population dynamics. g- Research on the ecology of estuarine areas, to provide a basis of ameliorating the effects of pollution, engineer- ing works, and other intervention by man, on the impor- tant fish populations which inhabit these areas during critical phases of their lives. h. Research into the possibilities of enriching desert areas of the sea by creating artificial upwelling. i, Development of utilization of new marine products. The use of marine plants is, and will undoubtedly continue to be, confined to the large attached algae of the littoral zone, be- cause the plants of the open sea are microscopic phytoplankton not susceptible to economic harvesting. These littoral algae are used extensively in the Orient for food, and are used elsewhere for in- dustrial, medicinal, and pharmaceutical products. Greater har- vests could be made, but to make this economic will require more effective harvesting and processing methods, or the development of new products of greater value. One thing, however, is clear. Much of this work will be expensive. To provide an environment where ocean fish can be studied in quasi-natural and yet controlled conditions will entail investment and operating coste far beyond the limited budgets given the Fish and Wildlife Services. Some of the things the Russians are doing give us cause for worry as to whether we are not being out-distanced in this field. 3. International Agreements Despite valiant attempts for several years, the laws of ex- ploitation in the offshore waters are still not settled. 6Considering the probable rate of world population growth and the likely increase in need for all available food sources, it is not too early to consider seriously a worldwide agreement among the maritime nations (and there are few nations which are not to some degree maritime) as to the future use of the resources of the sea. There are already some guideposts in the form of limited bilateral and multilateral agreements for specific purposes It may be sensible to see if a more general agreement cannot be worked out before increased exploitation leads to serious and perhaps intolerable strain: Sea water contains a large variety of minerals in the form jolved salts. Extraction of sea salt by solar radiation is an ancient industry, now highly developed both for production of sodium sulfate, magnesium chloride, magnesium oxychloride cements, and bromine. Bromine and magnesium are extracted directly from sea water by chemical and electrolytic procedures. Except for these products which involve quite simple extraction processes, there are, at present, few opportunities for use of the dissolved minerals. The total quantity of many minerals in sea water is very great, but they are in very dilute solution. Much higher grade "ore" is available from terrestrial sources. In the distant future, with the depletion of other sources, and with suffi- ciently cheap power, the production of other minerals from the sea may become economic. ‘The mineral deposits on the sea floor offer more attractive opportunities. Large deposits of phosphorite nodules which occur on the continental borderland off Southern California at moderate depths (50 to 75 fathoms) will probably be exploited in the near future, since several permits have already been requested from the Department of the Interior for their commercial utilization. Manganese nodules contain important quantities of manganese, copper, nickel, and cobalt. Molybdenum, lead, zinc, zirconium, vanadium, and other metals also could be recovered from them as by-products. Engineering calculations indicate that the mining of these ores should be economically feasible, on a large scale. Estimated quantities of metals in the manganese nodules constitute, for some of them, vastly greater reserves than those on land. Furthermore, the nodules are being continuously formedby precipitation and chelation of elements from sea water and, for such metale as manganese, nickel, cobalt, and zirconium the rate of formation is much greater than the present rate of world con- sumption. The nodules, thus, form a self-renewing mine. Mineralogical studies, surveys of deposits, and further engineering studies of means of recovery from the deep sea floor should be encouraged so that our industries may be able to exploit these resources, which belong to no nation, at least as soon as anyone else. Other marine deposits, such as calcareous ooze, diatoma- ceous earth, and red clay also offer future commercial possibilities.HO 92 PS 1962 ci Pike, Sumner Tucker, 1891. Jt tocine resources ok HC 92 PS 1962 c.1 Pike, Sumner Tucker, 1891- Marine resources Google