market. He points out that one of their concerns is whether 

 or not these new classes of large vessels can find enough fish 

 in the North Atlantic to enable the ships to work profitably. 

 With the size of the ship under consideration, vessels from 210 

 to 250 feet in overall length, a minimum of about 12 tons per 

 day must be caught while on the fishing grounds before break- 

 ing even. This is an important statistic and one which gives us 

 much food for thought. Mr. Parkes points out that the 

 British are not the only people who are developing these long- 

 range, efficient trawlers; France, Belgium, Holland, U.S.S.R., 

 and West Germany, among others, are rapidly developing dis- 

 tant-water factory trawlers to maintain their competitive posi- 

 tion on North Atlantic fishing banks. 



The importance of the economics of these large vessels, Mr. 

 Parkes notes, is indicated by the concern of these nations with 

 how much processing equipment must be placed aboard the 

 vessels. He speculates that the answer may well be to install no 

 more processing facilities for the production of fish blocks 

 and/or fillets than those which can be kept employed approxi- 

 mately 90 percent continuously while on the fishing grounds. 

 His logic is inescapable. The heavy expense of labor and 

 equipment makes it mandatory that on the fishing vessels the 

 equipment be kept in almost continuous operation. 



Mr. Parkes states that it is becoming increasingly difficult to 

 find commercial quantities of sizable and edible fish of the types 

 in popular demand. He states that many of the grounds 

 around the coasts of Europe, prolific as recently as 30 years 

 ago, are now commercially barren. He states categorically 

 that the cause is overfishing and the failure to take precautions 

 to allow small fish to pass through the nets. He points out 

 that there can be no worthwhile harvest in the long run if there 

 is not good husbandry of the available stock. His picture of 

 conditions in the North Atlantic — at least the Northeast Atlan- 

 tic — is pessimistic. He states that management is virtually 

 absent. The industry has received warnings from the scientists, 

 but effective international control is wanting. He suggests 

 there is urgent need of international control of the fishing effort 

 and pleads for effective international enforcement of conserva- 

 tion measures. Essentially, Mr. Parkes says that the increased 

 efficiency of the larger vessels and better gear are simply being 

 used to maintain the previous level of catches. In doing so, he 

 describes some new techniques that the British are using, with 

 sounding and sonar devices as well as trawler speedometers and 

 other electronic equipment of very modern design. 



Mr. Parkes emphasizes throughout his discussion the need 

 for more effective international control of fishing intensity and 

 the need for more effective measures of conservation and en- 

 forcement. Without these, he sees little future in the fishing 

 industry on those stocks of fish which have been the basis for the 

 major catches of fish throughout the world. He puts it this 

 way: "Let us hope that our effectiveness as fish killers does not 

 for long continue to outpace our effectiveness as fish conserv- 

 ers." Mr. Parkes has sounded a familiar warning, one with 

 which we can concur. I am sure that I speak for those of us 

 from the three North American countries at this Conference 

 in believing that, in addition to the development and full use 

 of new resources of the sea, there is great potential benefit from 





At Kewalo Basin, Honolulu, sampan fishermen dry and 

 repair longline and other equipment on wharf between 

 cruises. 



effective conservation programs to conserve and sustain the eco- 

 nomic optimum yield from our fisheries resources. 



Moving now to the matter of processing the catch once it is 

 aboard our vessel and reaches our port, Mr. E. Robert Kinney 

 points out that with the tremendous number of trained en- 

 gineers and scientists in North America one can look towards 

 new knowledge upon which to base new food products for the 

 consumer of tomorrow. This paper, as have some others, 

 points up the urgent problem caused by the exploding human 

 population on the earth and the ultimate need to look to the 



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