The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-10-22
Wealth Under Water
BY FREDERICK J. HAsKIN

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22.-There is
wealth under the sea, not far from
the shore, for any one who has enough
enterprise to go and get it.
This submarine treasure is not in
the gold and bullion of lost Spanish
galleons. 1t is in the form of sea
weed
At least seaweed is one of the most
abundant and accessible forms of it.
There is much untouched wealth in
the ocean. The seas of the world are
its great unexpected natural resource.
Men have taken fish out of them, al
most exhausting the more easily OBJ
tanned supplies in some cases, and that
is all The saying is literally true that
there are better fish in the sea than
ever were caught And besides fish,
there is wealth in hundreds of other
things.
The people of the United States
have been especially backward about
exploiting the wealth of their coastal
waters. They waste fish which other
countries consider delicacies. They
import at great expense sea products
that are daily washed up on their
own beaches.
The bureau of fisheries from time tc
/ time calls attention to some of these
neglected opportunities Thus it has
just completed an investigation of
certain sea weeds from which forms
of gelatine are extracted. 1t has been
discovered that we are importing from
the Orient products which we could
make at home to our profit And no
large investment ir required either.
Here is a chance for that enterprise,
which is our national boast, to show
itself.
A Wasted Resource.
Take the case of agar-agar. Agar
agar, if you never heard of it, is the
commercial name applied to dried GEL
atine which is extracted from certain
red algae that grow in coastal waters.
1t has many uses. 1t most important
one in this country is that of culture
medium in which to produce certain
bacteria, for purposes of incubation.
Nearly all hospitals and laboratories
have to have it. 1t also has been used
with success as a remedy for chronic
constipation. In the Orient it is hign-
| ly esteemed as food, but Americans
nave LOI lcdlHcQ W cat II
| We import about 240 tons of this
substance every year, and it is worth
nearly half million dollars, 1t comes
from Japan, China, Malaysia and Cey-
! Ion.
That half million could just as we'll
stay at home. Moreover, besides pro-
ducing all we need, we might our
selves export this substance, and we
might greatly extend the domestic use
! of it. especially it's use as a food. For
| the bureau of fisheries announces that
/ there are a dozen or more seaweeds
| in the waters of the Pacific coast
which contain agar-agar. -Four OF
/ these have been studied in detail and
are pronounced as good as or better
than seaweeds used for the same pur-
pose in the Orient. OF course, cost OF
production is a factor to be consid-
| cred, but suppose there is no reason
| to believe that we could not produce
| the substance more cheaply than we
/ can export it. The methods OF pre-
pairing agar-agar from these seaweeds
are known in detail to the bureau OF
fisheries and can be obtained by any
one interested. They do not involve
an expensive plant or equipment.
Rakes, kettles and wooden trays seem
to be about the only things neces-
sary. The product must be frozen,
/ and where temperatures do not go low