Senator PELL. Thank you very much for your testimony.

Our next speaker is Mr. John Horton, vice president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. We are very glad that you were able to come here today and testify on behalf of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

STATEMENT OF JOHN HORTON, VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Mr. HORTON. Mr. Chairman, I am privileged to be here today on behalf of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

Since 1636 when Roger Williams founded his settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay, the destiny of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has been linked firmly with the oceans of the world. In fact, very few Rhode Islanders are acquainted with the fact that Pawtucket was once a shipbuilding center.

Today, on the quiet, sloping streets of our East Side Hill, shaded by ancient elms and lindens, stand the great houses, virtually unchanged since the days of the sea captains and merchants who built them in the 1700's. Today there exists throughout Rhode Island a new awareness, a determined dedication to discover and harvest the vast potential and rich rewards of the ocean.

In January of this year, the chamber's board of directors, speaking for the 2,000 members and 1,000-member firms of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, unanimously voted to support Senator Claiborne Pell's bill, S. 2439, which authorizes the establishment and operation of sea grant colleges and programs of education, training, and research in the marine sciences, and a program of advisory services relating to activities in the marine sciences, to facilitate the use of the submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf by participants carrying out these programs.

In backing Senator Pell's bill, the chamber's board stated that "the important potential of the sea as a source of food is reason enough to expand this Nation's interest and activity in the study of the ocean.' The needs of the Nation's defense posture, added to this possible solution of the grim prospects of famine that exist in many areas of the world, are cause for action today in the field of oceanography, the potential rewards of which challenge the imagination.

Already there are more than 200 companies in this country with a major interest in oceanography, and more firms are entering this complex field each year. To staff these private organizations with competent oceanographers and technicians will be an invaluable benefit derived from creation of sea grant colleges.

Much progress in oceanography can be seen in Rhode Island and southern New England. Outstanding research facilities exist staffed by expert technicians, and additional facilities are now under construction. The chamber's interest in oceanography helped to create the Southern New England Marine Sciences Association, an area wide organization devoted to the promotion of the marine sciences and the acquisition, storage, retrieval, dissemination of information on oceanography.

New studies are being made in the field of international laws dealing in the exploration of the sea. I note with satisfaction that the first

annual summer conference of the Law of the Sea Institute will be held this June here at the University of Rhode Island to explore in detail the critical subject of "Offshore Boundaries and Zones." A recent study by the department of food and resources economics at this university disclosed that marine-oriented activities account for 21 percent of the aggregate income received by one and a half million persons in a three-State region from New London through Rhode Island to Cape Cod and the offshore islands of Massachusetts. So, the chamber's support of Senator Pell's National Sea Grant College Act is not without substantial economic foundation. Optimistic forecasters have predicted an annual national market of $5 billion in oceanography within 10 years, or about the current NASA budget.

The greater Providence Chamber of Commerce urges passage of the National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1965 as the key stimulus to current efforts by Government and industry to establish sound, long-range planning for this country's oceanographic program and activities. Passage of S. 2439 will be a dramatic thrust toward the crucial goal of harnessing our greatest natural resource, the sea. The last earthly frontier is at this very moment lapping at our shorelines. Thank you.

Now, speaking as a native Rhode Islander with a deep-rooted love for the salt water and our many, many miles of shoreline, I hope that by the production of this bill, by education and proper application, the continual decay and pollution of our marshland may be arrested and the irreparable damage will be stopped. I thank you again for permitting me to come here today.

Senator PELL. Going to one point in your testimony as to the threeState region from New London through Rhode Island to Cape Cod and the offshore islands of Massachusetts, where it is said that 21 percent of the aggregate income of the people there is derived from the

sea.

How far in does that territory go? Is that a strip that would go up the northern border of Connecticut and all of Rhode Island?

Mr. HORTON. To my best information it is the costal area. I don't think it would include the back extremities of Connecticut which would become more agricultural.

Senator PELL. It would consist of the counties along the coast then? It would include all of Rhode Island?

Mr. HORTON. All of Rhode Island, yes.

Senator PELL. Basically it is the area that includes the Southern New England Marine Sciences Association?

Mr. HORTON. Yes, it is that area.

Senator PELL. That is the area that Dr. Horn and Dr. Knauss spoke about?

Mr. HORTON. Yes, sir.

Senator PELL. Another point in your testimony which I would like to touch on is; you mentioned in your testimony a few moments ago the question of pollution of marshland. I have here another bill that I am trying to get advice on. Senator Tydings of Maryland had introduced a bill on pollution, the Federal Water Pollution Contract Act, and he actually mentions Rhode Island in his remarks. In our State we have 4,500 acres of soft marsh and only 400 acres are earmarked for preservation. These same acres act as a nesting ground, as I understand it, for fish and products of the sea.

Mr. HORTON. Yes, indeed. A quick tour along our shoreline will quickly show what has been happening to much of that very important natural area. There are people who are very eager to develop their waterfront property, either for commercial or private enterprise. There are districts that can never be restored.

Senator PELL. Well, I am turning this thing over in my mind as to whether or not I will cosponsor the bill.

Mr. HORTON. I certainly would endorse it, Senator. I advise you to.

Senator PELL. I understand. I will follow your advice and will support it. Thank you very much for your testimony.

Our next witness is a man of great practical experience and commonsense and wisdom. Mr. Jacob J. Dykstra, president of the Point Judith Fishermen's Cooperative Association, and in bringing him here we are lucky because he has a distinguished record of achievement in both the business aspect of fisheries and the practical aspect as well. We could not have a finer representative. Mr. Dykstra, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF JACOB J. DYKSTRA, PRESIDENT, POINT JUDITH FISHERMEN'S COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, POINT JUDITH, R.I.

Mr. DYKSTRA. Thank you for holding these hearings here today. I realize that this bill provides for increased understanding and development of the sea in many areas other than fisheries. However, since there will be many eminently qualified witnesses appearing to present their views, I will confine myself principally to the relationship of fisheries to sea grant colleges.

It has been reported with increasing frequency and by more and more people that the U.S. fishing industry lacks vigor, its equipment is old and obsolete, its fishermen old and tired, and that the situation is steadily worsening, especially when viewed in relation to the fisheries of many other nations. There is some justification for this view, and in my position I see many unhealthy conditions facing the fisheries. Let me mention a few:

THE TECHNOLOGY

We are fishing with vessels that are much older and less sophisticated than those of our competitors. This is not because the newest methods and equipment are not available to us. If our laws allowed it, we could have the most modern trawlers built in a number of countries. We also have excellent engineers and capable yards and manufacturers here at home. Our problem is not lack of know-how but lack of application to fisheries.

THE MARKETS AND PRODUCTION

The trawl fishermen of New England experience widely fluctuating prices for the fish they catch and often when even traditionally desirable species are most available, the ex-vessel price is so low that effort is curtailed or diverted to less available but currently more marketable species.

The processing plant operator geared to handling one or two species is either overwhelmed with fish in times of heavy production and thereby sometimes produces an inferior product, or is shut down or running a fraction of capacity with resultant loss of competent personnel and crushing overhead.

Many species of fish go ignored or underutilized, not because they are unappetizing to the consumer, but because they cannot be economically put into acceptable form with the techniques and equipment currently used by the industry.

The resources are there. It seems that everyone in the world wants to fish off our coasts. Still it is generally agreed that there are many unexploited fishery resources. The markets must also be there. Over half of the fish consumed in the United States are not caught by American fishermen.

THE MEN

Fishing vessel operators and those activities that back up the fleet need young men who are real seamen if more sophisticated methods and equipment are to be utilized. The land oriented, untrained and poorly motivated are presently those generally available.

THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

The staffs of our marine oriented universities, colleges, laboratories, and Government agencies, with a few notable exceptions, could appear in nearby fishing ports and go completely unrecognized, frequently by design. Traditionally we have been overrun by biologists studying the fish. Mostly they are dedicated and doing an excellent job, but they have watched the fishing industry go downhill. Valuable assistance has been given in the most obvious trouble spots, but only in narrowly confined areas.

Sea slanted programs at the high school and college levels are almost nonexistent. Young men who ask us how to acquire such training gå insatisfactory answers.

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customed to working as a team. They can bring their talents to bear on all phases of a problem and are anxious to see successful operations develop rather than just make a study each in his own field. The University of Rhode Island is already in a modest way functioning as a sea grant college should. With proper funding and as a part of a national program of similar activities we are sure that this beginning will expand, and be expanded into an increasingly meaningful and continuous relationship. Also, nearing in reality is a 2-year course at the University of Rhode Island for fishermen. This school, I am sure, will provide not only fishing captains for Rhode Island vessels, but also captains for many other fleets and future leaders and technical experts in widely diverse marine activities.

are

The provisions of this bill which should be retained and emphasized

1. Training of people who will be sea people and work on and in the sea to put the tools and knowledge provided by research and development to productive use.

2. Training of people whose duty it shall be to transmit new knowledge and techniques and demonstrate available equipment to industry.

3. Make available to individuals, corporations, and organizations grants and loans to effectively carry out special projects and programs.

It is my belief that sea grant colleges on a national scale will bring to bear upon marine activities the broad range of knowledge and talent at each college or university rather than attempt to duplicate them in self-contained and relatively isolated units. I strongly endorse S. 2439 and desire its enactment into law without undue delay. Senator PELL. Mr. Dykstra, I think it would be interesting and helpful if you would put on the record your many years of experience which you have spent in fishing and your occupation as of now. Are you a captain of a fishing boat?

Mr. DYKSTRA. I am a crewmember. The boat is out fishing today and I couldn't be here today if I had gone fishing. I go fishing with my brother. I used to have a boat of my own but I gave it up to do this kind of work.

Senator PELL. How many years have you spent fishing?

Mr. DYKSTRA. Well, I was at URI during the war and I went into the Navy from URI and when I got out of the Navy I started fishing. That was in 1946, and I have been fishing since.

Senator PELL. In other words you have spent most of your working life, well, all of your working life on the sea, is that right?

Mr. DYKSTRA. Yes, my father was a fisherman before me and his father before him.

Senator PELL. Thank you, I just wanted to get that on the record because there are very few men with as much practical experience as that. We are lucky to have you here today.

Now, I was struck by one point in your testimony and that is the difficulty you have in getting young men who are willing to accept the hardships of the sea and go to sea and learn the trade. I was curious about that in connection with the fact that we have a room full of young people from high school and the college here. I wonder if any of you young people, boys I think they might be, who are inter