Our Future Lies with the Ocean

As I toured the world, no one knew that plans were being
made to develop economic foundations on a worldwide scale.
As the church grew and the number of missions increased,
the amount of funds we needed to support these activities increased
dramatically. We needed income. As I toured forty-eight states in the
United States, I gave much thought to the kinds of businesses that could
support the activities we had planned.
What came to my mind then was that Americans eat meat every day.
I checked the price of a cow. I saw that a cow that costs a small amount
in Florida could cost several hundred dollars in New York. But when I
checked the price of tuna, I discovered that one bluefin tuna cost more
than $4,000. Tuna lay more than 1.5 million eggs at a time, whereas a
cow will have only one calf at a time. It was clear that catching tuna
would be a much better business endeavor than raising cattle.
One problem was that Americans did not eat much fish. The Japanese,
however, were extremely fond of tuna. There were many Japanese
living in the United States then, and expensive restaurants operated by
Japanese sold raw tuna at a high price. Also, some Americans who were
learning to enjoy raw fish enjoyed eating tuna.
The earth where we live is covered by more ocean than land. The
United States has two oceans and therefore plenty of fish. Also, beyond
the two hundred–mile limit, no country has territorial claims on the
ocean. Anyone can go out to catch fish. In order to start a farm or raise
cattle, we would need to buy land, but there is no need for that in the
ocean. All we needed was one boat, and we could go as far as necessary
in order to catch fish. The ocean is filled with things to eat. Also, on the
ocean surface, there is an active shipping industry. Ships carry things
made in countries all over the world to be sold elsewhere. The ocean
is a treasure trove that guarantees humankind a bright future. That is
why I teach that those who are concerned with the future of humanity
must be concerned with the oceans. When we can love and inherit the
oceans, we inherit the future.
We purchased several boats in the United States. These were not
the large ships that might be seen in a brochure but boats about
thirty-four feet to thirty-eight feet in length. They could pursue
tuna with their engines turned off. They were fishing boats about
the size of a yacht that would not have major accidents. These boats
were placed in Washington, San Francisco, Tampa, and Alaska. We
also purchased a ship repair facility.
We did a lot of our own research. We placed one boat in each region
and measured the water temperature. We checked to see how many tuna
were caught each day, and placed the data on a chart. We didn’t just take
data that experts had created previously; our members went into the
water themselves to gather the information. The results of studies done
by university-based researchers in the area were used as reference. In
addition, I went to those areas, lived there myself, and checked them
out. No data was more accurate than what we gathered.
We went to a lot of trouble to conduct this research, but we did not
keep it to ourselves. Instead, we shared it with the fishing industry. We also
developed new fishing grounds. If too many fish are caught in one area, it
depletes the fish population. It is important to go to new areas. Within a
short time, we had made a major impact on the U.S. fishing industry.
We entered the business of catching fish on the open sea. Our idea
was that one ship would go out to sea and catch fish for at least six
months without returning to port. When the ship had all the fish it
could carry, a transport ship went out to it, took its fish, and resupplied
it with food and fuel. The ship had refrigeration facilities where it could
store fish for a long time.
The name of our ship was New Hope, and it was well known for being
able to catch many fish. I took that boat out myself and caught tuna.
People were often afraid of getting on boats. When I suggested to young
people that they get on a boat, their first reaction was often one of fear.
“I get seasick,” I often heard them say. “All I have to do is get on a
boat, and I start getting woozy and feel like I’m going to die.”
So I got on the boat myself first. From that day, I went out on the boat
almost every day for seven years. Even now, when I am ninety years old,
I like to go out on the ocean whenever I have the time. Now, there are
more and more young people who say they want to go out on the boats.
More women say they want to do this. With any task, if the leader does
it first, the people follow. As a result, I have become well known as a
tuna fisherman.
It would have been of little use, however, if we had only caught the
tuna. We also needed to be able to sell it at the right price. We created
a tuna-processing facility, and I even sold the tuna myself. We put the
tuna in refrigerated trucks and went out and sold them. If selling was
difficult, we started our own seafood restaurants and sold the tuna
directly to consumers. Once we had our own restaurants, people could
not ignore us.
The United States has three of the world’s four largest fishing
grounds. Three-quarters of the world’s fish population live in waters
near the United States. Yet, the United States has relatively few people
to catch fish, and its fishing industry is extremely underdeveloped. The
government has taken many measures designed to support the fishing
industry, but they have not had a major effect. The government offered
to sell boats at a big discount on the condition that buyers use them for
two and a half years, but few people took advantage of the opportunity.
How frustrating this is. When we started to put money into the fishing
industry, it caused a stir in each port where we went. This was not surprising,
since communities prospered wherever we invested. Our work,
ultimately, was to pioneer new worlds. We were not simply catching
fish. We were taking paths not taken by others. How exciting it is to
pioneer new paths!
The ocean changes constantly. They say people’s minds change
morning and night, but the ocean changes moment to moment. That
is why the ocean is both mysterious and beautiful. The ocean embraces
everything in heaven and earth. It can come together at a particular
spot and form clouds or become rain and fall back down. I am very
fond of nature, because it never deceives. If it is high, it becomes lower;
if it is low, it becomes higher. In every instance, it adjusts its height to
become flat. If I am sitting holding a fishing pole, it seems as though
I have all the time in the world. What is there on the ocean to stand
in our way? Who is there to make us hurry? We have a lot of time for
ourselves. All we need to do is watch the ocean and talk with it. The
longer a person spends on the ocean, the greater the spiritual aspect of
his life will become. The ocean, however, can be calm one minute but
then quickly change its face and send us strong waves. Waves several
times the height of a person will rise up above the boat, as if to devour
it. A strong wind will tear at the sail and make a fearful sound.
Think of this, though. Even when the waves have risen and a fearful
wind is blowing, the fish in the water have no trouble sleeping. They
give themselves over to the waves and don’t resist them. This is what I
learned from the fish. I decided not to be afraid, no matter how strong
the waves were. I let the waves carry me. I made myself one with the
boat, and we rose with the waves. Once I started doing that, my heart
was never shaken, no matter what kind of waves I came up against. The
ocean has been such a wonderful teacher for me in my life that I created
the Ocean Challenge program to give young people the leadership
training the ocean provides.