In summary, the shrimp fishery is the most valuable fishery in Florida, 

 but it is confronted with serious economic problems that plague almost all in- 

 dustries. The shrimp industry is likely to undergo many changes, but the 

 demand for shrimp should remain high. 



LEGISLATION AND COOPERATIVE ACTION 



The most significant marine fishery regulation of this century is Public 

 Law 94-265, the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, which extend- 

 ed United States jurisdiction of marine fisheries out to 200 miles. To accom- 

 plish its purpose, eight Regional Fisheries Management Councils were formed 

 and these quasi Federal agencies have the responsibility of developing fishery 

 management plans for those fish species that live primarily in international 

 waters out 200 miles offshore (Fishery Conservation Zone, FCZ). The law gives 

 U.S. fishermen first rights over all fishing stocks in the FCZ. Foreign fish- 

 ing is permitted by the councils only when it is determine that a surplus 

 exists beyond that which U.S. fishennen can catch (almost all are low-valued 

 species). Although Florida is a member of two Councils (the South Atlantic 

 Fishery Management Council and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council), 

 the Northwest Florida's FCZ is under the Gulf Council, which has enacted or is 

 working on fishery management plans for the following species: (1) stone 

 crabs, plan enacted September 1979; (2) shrimp (white, pink, brown, and relat- 

 ed species); (3) reef fish (snappers, groupers, and related species); (4) king 

 and Spanish mackerel (cooperative plan with South Atlantic Council); (5) spiny 

 lobster (another cooperative plan); (6) groundfish (primarily species taken 

 incidental to shrimp trawling); (7) sharks; (8) coral (another cooperative 

 plan); and (9) billfish (a four-way cooperative plan with South Atlantic, New 

 England, and Caribbean Councils). 



Central to the development and approval of fishery management plans are 

 the Seven National Standards that the Act requires must be met. The plans are 

 as follows: 



(1) Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while 

 achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery. 



(2) Conservation and management measures shall be based on the best sci- 

 entific information available. 



(3) To the extent practicable, an individual stock of fish shall be man- 

 aged as a unit throughout its range, but closely interrelated stocks of 

 fish also may be managed as a unit. 



(4) Conservation and management measures shall not discriminate between 

 residents of different states. If it becomes necessary to allocate or 

 assign fishing privileges among various U.S. fishermen, such allocation 

 shall be (A) fair and equitable to all such fishermen; (B) reasonably 

 calculated to promote conservation; and (C) carried out in such a manner 

 that no particular individual, cooperation, or other entity acquires an 

 excessive share of such privileges. 



(5) Conservation and management measures shall, where practicable, pro- 

 mote efficiency in the utilization of fishery resources; except that no 

 such measure shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose. 



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