allocations. Inspectors may stop, board, and 

 examine member fishing vessels for violations 

 of the regulations, but prosecution and 

 punishment (if any) are carried out by the 

 "flag state", the home country of the particu- 

 lar fishing vessel. 



The United States was a member of ICNAF 

 for more than 25 years. However, it withdrew 

 from the convention after Congress passed the 

 Fishery Management and Conservation Act of 

 1976, unilaterally assuming jurisdiction over 

 most of the east coast waters in which 

 American fishermen work. 



The growth in breadth and strength of en- 

 forcement of fisheries laws can be traced to 

 two primary interrelated occurrences: 



• intense foreign fishing off our coasts, and 



• depletion of many fish species due to 

 overfishing. 



In 1975, there were 17 foreign nations fish- 

 ing off our coasts. 21 In June 1975, almost 1,000 

 foreign fishing vessels were sighted; the year's 

 monthly average was more than 500.^2 The 

 foreign vessels caught about three-quarters of 

 the 3 million metric tons of fish caught in the 

 200-mile zone that year. 



From 1964 through September of 1976, 

 nearly 100 foreign fishing vessels were cited 

 for violation of U.S. fishing laws. The most 

 frequent offenders have been Japan, Canada, 

 Cuba, and the U.S.S.R. Fishermen from these 

 nations account for more than 70 percent of 

 the violations of U.S. law. In addition, approx- 

 imately 100 treaty violations are documented 

 each year. 23 



Trawl nets on shrimp boats dry in the sun. Shrimp is one of the largest commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. 



22 



