The overwhelming majority of these fish, inhabiting the shelf or 

 the upper portion of the slope, have long life cycles and relatively low 

 reproductive capacity which, in combination with intensive fishing, has 

 led to a decrease in the population of many species of fish, 

 particularly the plaice and sea perch. Doubtless, a significant 

 increase in the catch of certain benthic fish, such as sand eels, is 

 possible. However, the fact that the overwhelming majority of these 

 species are littoral, shallow-water fish which fomi significant numbers 

 of small, local populations, makes this group of fish suitable primarily 

 for coastal fishing. 



There are other fish which are promising for the development of 

 fishing. They include primarily representatives of the Sauridae--the 

 sauries, widespread in the North and South Atlantic and in the Pacific 

 (saury fishing is being successfully conducted by Japan and the USSR, 

 bringing in as much as 300-500"10^ t in some years). No less promising 

 is fishing for capelin, the catch of which in the Sea of Norway and the 

 Barents Sea and in the region of Newfoundland has exceeded 200 million 

 tons in recent years. Representatives of the family Myctophidae are 

 also quite numerous, with large accumulations of these fish found by the 

 bottom and depths of 500-900 m in various regions of the ocean, 

 particularly off the Pacific coast of Japan. 



The invertebrates are of much less significance in the world 

 seafood picture, representing about 8X (5.8 -lO^ t) of the total world 

 seafood catch. Of this quantity, 65-70X consists of mollusks, about 30% 

 (1.9*10" t) crustaceans, and about 70*10^ t of Echinodermata and 

 others. The world catch of invertebrates is growing slowly (Table 14). 



Mollusks are caught in the largest quantity off the coast of 

 Japan--up to 1.4-1.6'10° t, primarily squid and bivalves. A large 

 quantity (0.6-0.7'lp° t) of mollusks is caught in the USA, mostly 

 oysters (0.3-0.4-10° t) , abalone (0.2-10° t) and scallops (0.1-10° t). 

 The USA takes approximately half of the entire world catch of oysters, 

 Japan and France representing a large fraction of the remaining catch. 

 Mussels are caught primarily by European fishermen (about 85% of the 

 total catch) predominantly from the Netherlands (up to 120-10^ t) , 

 Spain (70 -lO^ t) and France (30-40-10-^ t). One of the most valuable 

 mollusks is the scallop, which is primarily caught in the northwestern 

 Atlantic off the coast of the USA by fishermen from Canada (60-70-10^ t) 

 and the USA (70-80-10^ t). A significantly smaller quantity of scallops 

 (about 7,000 t) is caught by Japan and by Australia. The prospects are 

 obviously favorable for the development of the mollusk fishing industry, 

 particularly squid, as well as small bivalve mollusks (used as feed in 

 animal husbandry) in many regions of the ocean. 



Among the crustaceans, first place is occupied by shrimp. The 

 largest catches are brought in from the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, 

 the coasts of Japan and India, and the Bering Sea. Following shrimp, in 

 terms of catch, are the crabs (primarily the Kamchatka crab), then the 

 lobsters. The intensity of fishing for the Kamchatka crab and the 

 lobster threatens depletion of the reserves and requires that additional 

 measures be taken to regulate fishing. The resources of shrimp and 



376 



