Any assessment of resources naturally depends on the definition of the word: one man's meat is another's poison: Britain as a society cries out for all kinds of materials and sources of energy while the ordinary Afghan can exist reasonably well on a bountiful supply of water and fertiliser. With the world population increasing, and with a shift toward a more egalitarian usage of resources, it is to be expected that a serious shortage of most things may occur by the year 2000. Such a situation requires a re-thinking of Man's needs and sources of supply. One inevitable solution has been the ‘cornucopia’ of the sea: the marine environment, so the argument runs, can provide most of the energy requirements through the vast submarine deposits of the fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) and by harnessing the tides, while a wide range of minerals (send and gravel, tin, diamonds, manganese, copper, etc.) seem to exist to serve material needs. But is this fact or fancy? Undoubtedly, a resource wealth does exist within and beneath the sea, but in exploration and exploitation present technologies will be strained to the limits. And in so doing will another resource—the environment itself—be destroyed?