Recommended Pilot Project 



The Office of Technology Assessment's 

 analysis suggests that much could be learned 

 from a pilot project in which a foreign fishery 

 is nearly blanketed with shipboard observers 

 who have both management and enforcement 

 duties. 



The New England region would be most 

 suitable for such a pilot project for the follow- 

 ing reasons: 



• The fishing grounds are concentrated 

 and foreign fishing practices are well 

 known. 



• Many of the foreign vessels fish in 

 groups which could simplify the ar- 

 rangement of vessels with observers 

 and control vessels without observers. 



• The stocks in that region are generally 

 depleted and information for use in 

 restoring stocks is badly needed. 



• Questions about bycatch are most sig- 

 nificant in the area. 



• There are important problems with 

 gear restrictions and gear conflicts in 

 the area. 



About 150 foreign vessels, on the average, 

 have traditionally fished within the 200-mile 

 zone off New England. At this writing, the 

 number of permit applications which had 

 been received suggested that this number will 

 probably go down because of the 1977 catch 

 allocations. Therefore, it appears that a total of 

 about 100 shipboard observers would be 

 suitable for the pilot project. These observers 

 should be selected on the basis of experience 

 in fishing practice and knowledge of fishery 

 matters. If they are given enforcement duties. 



they should be Coast Guard personnel, in- 

 stead of NMFS personnel. However, they 

 should receive some training from NMFS in 

 observing, collecting, and reporting informa- 

 tion of value. Some familiarity with the nation 

 on whose vessel the observer serves would 

 also be helpful. 



Based on NMFS estimates for their limited- 

 observer program, the cost of a 100-man pilot 

 program would be roughly $2 million plus 

 funds for an accurate evaluation of the pilot. 3* 



Under the law, this cost is passed on to the 

 foreign vessels. However, other fees and 

 charges are also levied, under the law, to reim- 

 burse the United States for management and 

 enforcement activities in the 200-mile zone. 

 Since the observer program would presuma- 

 bly make some other expenditures covered by 

 these levies unnecessary, the gross tonnage- 

 fee or tax on ex -vessel value of the catch could 

 be reduced accordingly. 



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