Management of New 

 U.S. Fishery Zone 



fishing activity that was not reported by this 

 system. 



In the Bering Sea region a similar network 

 of transponders could be required aboard 

 foreign fishing vessels. In this region it may be 

 desirable to combine the transponder network 

 with microwave radar systems already used 

 aboard Coast Guard patrol aircraft and receiv- 

 ing stations also aboard the patrol craft. In this 

 way a specific region could be covered by 

 regular overflight, all vessels operating in the 

 region located by radar, each vessel interro- 

 gated to determine whether an approved 

 transponder is aboard stating identification 

 and location, and any vessels without trans- 

 ponders investigated. There are several ad- 

 vantages to a system thus described, especially 

 in Alaska where long distances and large areas 

 can best be covered by aircraft and where fre- 

 quent cloud cover makes visual observation 

 difficult or impossible. 



New Management Concepts Needed 



New research concepts need to be 

 developed and much new data must be 

 gathered in order to obtain an integrated 

 view of all the fisheries of the United States 

 and to determine the optimum yield of each 

 fishery. Optimum yield is a judgmental 

 decision on the size of fish catch which will 

 achieve the most advantageous combina- 

 tion of biological, economic, and social 

 results. However, there is presently no 

 agreed-upon method of determining op- 

 timum yield. (See pages 62 to 63.) 



Even when analytical methods and relia- 

 ble data are generated, there will be uncer- 

 tainty about stock assessments and other 

 projections used for fishery management. 

 Techniques for dealing with that uncer- 

 tainty will be necessary. (See pages 62 to 

 63.) 



Relationships Between Federal Agencies and 

 Regional Councils 



It is possible that better accountability for 

 the existence and the reliability of data pro- 

 vided by the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS) to the Regional Councils 

 could be achieved if the NMFS member on 

 the councils were the head of the regional 

 fisheries research center rather than, or in 

 addition to, the Regional Director. (See 

 pages 63 to 69.) 



Conflicts can probably be expected in the 

 future between the Regional Councils and 

 the NMFS laboratories over the division of 

 research funds because of some local fisher- 

 men's mistrust of national NMFS opera- 

 tions and council desires to break out of the 

 traditional NMFS research patterns. Con- 

 flicts may evolve over who does specific 

 research tasks. Such conflicts may delay col- 

 lection of much-needed information or 

 cause duplication of research effort; 



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