Papers in Marine Biology and Oceanography, Suppl. lo vol. 3 of Deep- Sea Research, pp. 398-405. 



U.S. participation in conservation of international fishery resources 



By Wm. C. Herrington 



In the Fourth International Fishery Congress held in Washington, D.C., in 1908, 

 Mr. Charles E. Fryer, Superintending Inspector of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries of the United Kingdom, made the following statement: "The further 

 afield the fishermen of any state go, the more certainly will they be brought into 

 closer relations with the fishermen of fresh nationalities, and the longer will be the 

 list of states which find that they have interests in common — interests which will, 

 sooner or later, call for combined action in the direction of international regulations 

 of the fisheries on the high seas." 



Time has proven Mr. Fryer a most competent prophet. With the passing years 

 and development of more efficient and intensive fishing activities, the international 

 problems and frictions arising from fishing activities have multiplied. Numerous 

 attempts have been made to find solutions to these problems through international 

 agreements. Many of the most extensive and successful of these attempts have been 

 in the Western Hemisphere. 



Here, beginning some forty years ago, the United States and Canada working 

 together, and in more recent years with other countries, have embarked on a system 

 of fishery conservation conventions which are proving successful in restoring and 

 safeguarding the productivity of common high-seas fishery resources. Progress has 

 been made through careful step-by-step exploration and development. This explora- 

 tion has been directed first towards developing and co-ordinating research, and 

 secondly, after research demonstrated the necessity, towards devising practical and 

 effective conservation measures to ensure the maximum sustainable productivity 

 of the particular fishery. As one step proved itself, and convinced an always sceptical 

 fishing industry and public, which watched with a critical eye this increasing delega- 

 tion of responsibiUty and authority to an international body, it was possible to move 

 on to development and adoption of additional measures to handle more difficult, 

 involved, or controversial problems. Thus by means of much study, discussion, and 

 negotiation since the Fur Seal Convention of 1911, a considerable assortment of 

 procedures for handling a variety of international fishery conservation problems have 

 been developed, tested and applied. The United States now is party to eight agree- 

 ments involving twenty-one nations. The Great Lakes Convention, covering the 

 principal waters of our northern boundary, is the latest addition to this group. 



These conventions range from bilateral agreements providing for research in and 

 regulation of a single species, to flexible multilateral agreements covering many 

 species in a given ocean area. Among the features included in one or another of these 

 conventions are provisions for the handling of any joint conservation problem by 

 the signatory nations concerned with that problem; for research and management 

 with special treatment for stocks of fish under full utihzation; and for the solution 

 of special problems in cases where the established international commission cannot 

 reach agreement. 



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