Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:57:50.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food Resources of the Oceans: An Outline of Status and Potentials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Sargun A. Tont  and
Damon A. Delistraty
Damon A. Delistraty
Affiliation:
Staff Research Associates, Scripps Institution of Oceanography A-022, La Jolla, California 92093, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Knowledge of the present status and future potential of the world's marine food resources is a key prerequisite to their ecological exploitation. Rationales for the exploitation of these resources are twofold. Most important is the expectation that more time to reduce human population growth—the ultimate goal—could be made available. Secondly, because fish and shellfish are typically high in their content of protein and low in fat, nutritional quality in the human diet can be improved through their increased use.

Fundamental to marine biological production are the phytoplankton populations which comprise the basis of the oceanic food-structure. This production involves the photosynthesis of organic matter by phytoplankton and the subsequent flow of this matter through the food-web. Spatial and temporal discontinuities in marine production are related to the patchy distributional pattern of phytoplankton and to natural fluctuations in oceanic populations due to geographically and temporally varying conditions. A review of past estimates of the potential marine yield suggests that there has been significant variation in the methodology employed to arrive at these estimates.

Much-improved management of the oceanic food resources is urgently needed. Present mismanagement of these resources includes chemical pollution and the overexploitation of several important fish-stocks, which together threaten the viability of marine life. On the positive side, the future potential of the overall marine food-resources appears to be considerably larger than the present yield. The current harvest can be augmented by further development of aquaculture and by the exploitation of unconventional species, both of which could offer a relatively untapped source of valuable protein. Thus, Man must quickly establish and implement a rational, global management plan for the world's oceans and control his own population numbers to ensure conservation of the marine food-resources.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , Winter 1977 , pp. 243 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahlstrom, E. H. & Radovich, J. (1970). Management of the Pacific sardine. Pp. 183–93 in A Century of Fisheries in North America (Ed. Benson, N. G.). American Fisheries Society, Special Publ. No. 7, Washington, D.C.: ix + 330 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Alverson, D. L. (1975). Opportunities to increase food production from the world's ocean. Marine Technology Society Journal, 9(5), pp. 33–40.Google Scholar
Alverson, D. L., Longhurst, A. R. & Gulland, J. A. (1970). How much food from the sea? Science, 168(3930), pp.503–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bardach, J. E., Ryther, J. H. & McLarney, W. O. (1972). Aquaculture: The Farming and Husbandry of Freshwater and Marine Organisms. Wiley-Interscience, New York, N.Y.: xii + 868 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Borgstrom, G. A. (1967). The Hungry Planet. Collier Books, New York, N.Y.: xx + 507 pp., iillustr.Google Scholar
Borgstrom, G. A. (1974). Fish and marine products. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 7, pp. 345–51.Google Scholar
Chapman, W. M. (1965). Potential Resources of the Ocean. Van Camp Sea Food Company, Long Beach, California: 43 pp.Google Scholar
Corff, N. J., Blanscett, B. & Boule, M. (in press). A method for determining the location and relative potential of aquacultural projects. In Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the World Mariculture Society, San José, Costa Rica, 1977.Google Scholar
FAO (1971 a). The Fish Resources of the Ocean (Ed. Gulland, J. A.). Fishing News Books, West Byfleet, Surrey, England: xi + 255 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
FAO (1971 b). The State of Food and Agriculture 1971. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy: xii + 234 pp.Google Scholar
FAO (1975 a). Yearbook of Fishery Statistics 1974, Vol. 38. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy: xxv + 378 pp.Google Scholar
FAO (1975 b). Informal Consultation on Antarctic Krill. (FAO Fisheries Report No. 153.) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy: iii + 14 pp.Google Scholar
FAO (1976a). The State of Food and Agriculture 1975. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy: xii + 150 pp.Google Scholar
FAO (1976b). Yearbook of Fishery Statistics, Fishery Commodities 1975, Vol. 41. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy: xix + 334 pp.Google Scholar
Graham, H. W. & Edwards, R. L. (1962). The world biomass of marine fishes. Pp. 3–8 in Fish in Nutrition (Ed. Heen, E. & Kreuzer, R.). Fishing News Books, London, England: xix + 447 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Hevia, P., Whitaker, J. R. & Olcott, H. S. (1976). Solubilization of a fish protein concentrate with proteolytic enzymes. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 24, pp. 383–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holt, S. J. (1969). The food resources of the ocean. Scientific American, 221(3), pp. 178–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IDOE (1972). Baseline studies of pollutants in the marine environment and research recommendations. The International Decade of Ocean Exploration Baseline Conference (Convener E. D. Goldberg), New York, 1972. National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.: xi + 54 pp.Google Scholar
Idyll, C. P. (1970). The Sea Against Hunger. Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, N.Y.: xii + 221 pp., illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idyll, C. P. (1973). The anchovy crisis. Scientific American, 228(6), pp. 22–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacs, J. D. (1967). Food from the sea. International Science and Technology, 64, pp. 61–8.Google Scholar
Jennings, P. R. (1976). The amplification of agricultural production. Scientific American, 235(3), pp. 180–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasker, R. (in press). The relation between oceanographic conditions and larval anchovy food in the California Current: Identification of factors contributing to recruitment failure. In Proceedings of the Oceanography and Fisheries Symposium of the Joint Oceanographic Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976.Google Scholar
Longhurst, A., Colebrook, M., Gulland, J. A., Le Brasseur, R., Lorenzen, C. & Smith, P. (1972). The instability of ocean populations. New Scientist, 54(798), pp. 500–2.Google Scholar
Macan, T. T. & Worthington, E. B. (1951). Life in Lakes and Rivers. Collins, London, England: xvi + 272 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (1974). The limits to the productivity of the sea. Science Progress, 61(241), pp. 99–122.Google Scholar
Moser, H. G. & Ahlstrom, E. H. (1974). Role of larval stages in systematic investigations of marine teleosts: the Mycto-phidae, a case-study. U.S. Fishery Bulletin, 72(2), pp. 391–413.Google Scholar
Murphy, G. I. (1966). Population biology of the Pacific Sardine (Sardinops caerulea). Proceedings of the Calif. Academy of Sciences, 34(1), pp. 1–84.Google Scholar
Paine, R. T. (1966). Food-web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist, 100(910), pp. 65–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearcy, W. G. & Mesecar, R. S. (1971). Scattering layers and vertical distribution of oceanic animals off Oregon. Pp. 381–94 in Proceedings of an International Symposium on Biological Sound Scattering in the Ocean (Ed. Farquhar, G. B.), Warrenton, Virginia, 1970. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.: xi + 629 pp.Google Scholar
Pechenik, L. N. & Troyanovskii, F. M. (1971). Trawling Resources on the North Atlantic Continental Slope. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, Israel: iv + 66 pp.Google Scholar
Pirie, N. W. (1969). Food Resources: Conventional and Novel. Penguin Books, Middlesex, England: 208 pp.Google Scholar
Platt, T. & Rao, D. V. S. (1973). Some current problems in marine phytoplankton productivity. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Technical Report No. 370, iv + 89 pp.Google Scholar
Quinn, W. H. (1974). Monitoring and predicting El Nino invasions. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 13(7), pp.825–30.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, G. C. & Schevill, W. E. (1974). Feeding of a captive Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus. Marine Fisheries Review, 36(4), pp. 31–8.Google Scholar
Ricker, W. E. (1969). Food from the sea. Pp. 87–108 in Resources and Man (Ed. Committee on Resources and Man, National Research Council). W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, California: xi + 259 pp.Google Scholar
Rodin, L. E., Bazilevich, N. I. & Rozov, N. N. (1975). Productivity of the world's main ecosystems. Pp. 13–26 in Productivity of World Ecosystems, Proceedings of a Symposium, Seattle, 1972. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.: vii + 166 pp.Google Scholar
Roels, O. A., Dorsey, T. E., Laurence, S. & Mcdonald, P. W. (in press). Nitrogen balance and clam growth in an artificial upwelling maricultural system at different food-flow rates and shellfish densities. In Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the World Mariculture Society, San José, Costa Rica, 1977.Google Scholar
Russell-Hunter, W. D. (1970). Aquatic Productivity. Mac-millan, New York, N.Y.: xiii + 306 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Ryther, J. H. (1969). Photosynthesis and fish production in the sea. Science, 166(3901), pp. 72–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaefer, M. B. (1965). The potential harvest of the sea. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 94(2), pp. 123–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, M. B. & Alverson, D. L. (1968). World fish potentials. Pp. 81–5 in University of Washington Publications in Fisheries, Vol. 4 (Ed. Gilbert, D. W.). University of Washington, Seattle, Washington: 346 pp.Google Scholar
Shapley, D. (1973). Oceanography: Albatross of diplomacy haunts seafaring scientists. Science, 180(4090), pp. 1036–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shultz, F. T. (1970). Genetic potentials in aquaculture. Pp. 119–34 in Food-Drugs from the Sea Proceedings, University of Rhode Island, 1969 (Ed. Youngken, H. W., Jr). Marine Technol. Soc, Washington, D.C.: xiv + 396 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, P. E. (in press). Biological effects of ocean variability: Time- and space-scales of biological response. In Proceedings of a Symposium on Biological Effects of Ocean Variability of the Joint Oceanographic Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976.Google Scholar
Soutar, A. & Isaacs, J. D. (1974). Abundance of pelagic fish during the 19th and 20th centuries as recorded in anaerobic sediment off the Californias. U.S. Fishery Bulletin, 72(2), pp. 257–73.Google Scholar
Tont, S. A. (1976). Short-period climatic fluctuations: Effects on diatom biomass. Science, 194(4268), pp. 942–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
University of California Food Task Force (1974). A Hungry World: The Challenge to Agriculture. Cooperative Extension, Summary Report, U.S. Dept of Agriculture and Univ. of California, Berkeley: 68 pp.Google Scholar