God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 05

God’s Will and the Ocean
True Father Speaks on: The Way of Tuna, Pg 10-12
July 13, 1980, Belvedere

There are many resources that can be transported from one part of the world that is rich to another part where there is famine. This is why I created the International Relief Friendship Foundation. American companies sometimes have a surplus of products which become burdensome because they must be stored and, at the same time, the companies must pay taxes on them. Many times they cannot sell these old products for whatever reason, so they are in a dilemma. Often they are willing to give that material to some organization as a contribution, but even the churches today don't know what to do with so much material because they don't have the capacity to handle it. However, we have created a foundation which can receive surplus commodities, plus a fleet to transport them from one port to another, so we can meet that need.

This has tremendous implications. Any government that is interested in the welfare of its people will link up with us because we have so much ability to help them. To implement this, we need properly trained and skilled manpower. Where can we train people? I want to have 200 of our boats deployed along the American coast with three people on each boat, which means 600 people. Once we have continued for three years, three people won't be necessary; one person can do it. This kind of system can be expanded very quickly. The young people who become experienced in small boats will want to handle bigger and bigger boats. In about sixteen years, everyone can be a trained, experienced captain of a big boat. We can get government loans and create more fishing boats, assigning an experienced captain to each one. Then, their mission will be to catch specific fish that are in demand.

Cold storage is the big problem in the fishing industry. Therefore, I am investigating advanced techniques of making dry fish powder that doesn't need cold storage. Millions of tons can be stored in bags in open air. We will develop powder for different fish and combine them, like multiple vitamins. This powder can be used in daily cooking, to supplement the overuse of flour and starch. You will be able to create new cuisine by using fish powder in nutritious cooking. I will soon test fish powder bread versus wheat flour bread. Once people taste it, they won't have to be persuaded which is better. The best test will be giving it to children, who are very honest. I am sure they will all take the fish bread. There is already a fish powder company operating in Norway, and one of our members is researching that process in depth. The problem now is not in catching the fish, but in marketing the fish before they spoil. We are working on the solution to that.

Because we have a way to store the fish, we will catch as much as possible without hesitation. Already, we catch more tuna than anyone else. The fishermen will bring their catches to us because we will have no limit on how much we can buy. Therefore, we can provide a tremendous incentive for the fishing industry. I have the entire system worked out, starting with boat building. After we build the boats, we catch the fish and process them for market, and then have a distribution network. This is not just on the drawing board; I have already done it.

All these ideas I conceived many years ago, and I knew just where to start—with tuna fishing—because it is the essential way to train people in the fishing spirit. I have been doing that for seven years. Furthermore, another reason I have pursued this direction is that resources on land for feeding the world will soon be inadequate. There is a limited amount of land, and it gets poorer over the years, but the ocean is boundless. You cannot eat all the plants that grow on land, but everything that comes from the ocean can be eaten, and it is all good for the body.

Animal feed can be produced from the ocean; when seaweed is properly processed, there is tremendous nutrition there. In addition, we will not just harvest fish that grow wild, but will farm fish as well. Normally a calf cost one-fifth the price of a full grown cow. The tuna, however, has a tremendous capacity to multiply; one tuna lays 150,000 eggs. Would you have to pay one-fifth the price of a tuna for one little egg? Tuna farming is already in the experimental stage. Most baby tuna are eaten by other fish, but when they are protected they will grow quickly. There is great potential in tuna farming. 

I am the founder of this gigantic spiritual movement, but I am also laying the foundation to solve future physical problems of the world. I know that all this is basic for future food production and solving hunger in the world. Some environmentalists  might ask me, "Reverend Moon, why do you kill tuna all the time?" My answer is, "How can you worry about tuna when all the people may die? I want to prevent such a future from happening." In another way, I view a tuna as an offering, and I am in a position as a chief priest to offer it to God. I seldom eat the tuna I have caught because I see it as a sacrifice for the sake of mankind. In the Old Testament, the priests killed and burnt offerings on the altar, and blood was shed.

Another health food trend in the near future will be to eat raw foods like fish, grains and vegetables. It is medically true that raw foods give you more energy. Fish powder will solve many things because it will contain most of the nutrition you need. With a bag of fish powder you can travel anywhere in the world and eat wherever you are. The land has been fully exploited by man, but God preserved the ocean resources almost totally untouched. (There are even precious stones in the oceans).

This year, we have saved and numbered the tail fins of the tuna I have caught, and when they are preserved, each state center will have one. When people look at those fins, they can feel they are looking at the future food messiah who will solve the food problems of the world. Since I am so enthusiastic and have so many plans about the ocean, anyone who comes to the Unification Church cannot help but pay attention to the ocean. Would you like to go to sea? When did you become so enthusiastic about the ocean?