14 MANAGEMENT OF HIGH SEAS FISHERIES 



level of yield. While other nations and other organizations have 

 talked and theorized about this problem or have ignored it, none of 

 them have accomplished the task of rebuilding any of their fisheries. 

 The Commission charted a new course in the virgin field of marine 

 fisheries management. It is the only regulatory body in the world 

 with practical experience in successfully accomplishing this objec- 

 tive. The staff of the Halibut Commission, moreover, is the only 

 staff that has dealt successfully with the practical problem of rebuild- 

 ing the productivity of a high seas species. Their success has not 

 been the result of chance but has grown from carefully conducted 

 research, and after the beginning of regulation, from a meticulous 

 monitoring of both immediate and long-term effects of the fishery 

 and of its regulation. Since the formation of the Commission, appro- 

 priations for support of the research and for regulation by the gov- 

 ernments of Canada and the United States have exceeded several 

 million dollars. 



With special regard to the Bering Sea, the Halibut Commission 

 staff first tagged halibut in the Bering Sea in 1930, when 570 fish 

 were released. Aside from 322 tagged off Port Moller in 1947, 192 

 tagged in the same location in 1952, and 41 in 1954, the next major 

 tagging experiment in the Bering Sea was in 1956 when 3,183 fish 

 were tagged, and again in 1959 when 5,148 fish were tagged. (Re- 

 ports of IPHC 13 through 32.) 



In addition to tagging, the Commission inaugurated a program of 

 sampling halibut catches from the Bering Sea, and deliberately de- 

 veloped its regulations in such a manner as to encourage the exploi- 

 tation of the Bering Sea stocks. This is in keeping with the objectives 

 of the halibut treaty, which are to provide for the proper manage- 

 ment and full utilization of the halibut fishery. It is also in keeping 

 with the provisions of the North Pacific Fisheries Treaty (App.) 

 which indicates that the member countries should encourage and 

 attempt to insure maximum utilization of the fish. These regula- 

 tions provided for special seasons for the Bering Sea outside the 

 seasons during which fishing is allowed in the Gulf of Alaska and off 

 the coast of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia, together with 

 provisions concerning ports of clearance and entry which further 

 encouraged fishing during these seasons in the Bering Sea. On first 

 impression it might seem that there is an inconsistency between (1) 

 the Halibut Commission's position in encouraging more fishing in 



