26 MANAGEMENT OF HIGH SEAS FISHERIES 



to spread the fishery over as much of the year as possible, and over 

 the full extent of the regulated stocks. In the salmon fishery the 

 limitations on authority of the Salmon Commission have so far 

 prevented full accomplishment of this end. Restoration of abundance 

 of the Fraser River salmon runs has attracted an excess of boats, 

 fishermen, and gear with the inevitable result that limitation of the 

 catch to levels required has demanded that the fleets be restricted 

 to fishing periods in some cases as short as one day a week. This 

 results in practically all fish present during fishing being removed, 

 and those stocks which move through fishing areas during the closed 

 periods being completely protected. In this rather simple case, the 

 desirability of reducing the amount of fishing gear to a level that 

 will permit almost continuous fishing during the runs is obvious. 

 By such action a portion of all parts of each stock of fish will escape 

 through the fishery, and thus all stocks would contribute to the catch 

 in proportion to their abundance. 



This problem was recognized recently in the state of Washington, 

 where the state requested an analysis of the amoiuit of gear in use 

 in the North Puget Sound salmon fishery and its relationship to 

 the efficient biological and economic management of the salmon 

 runs. This study was carried out by the staffs of the College of 

 Fisheries, Department of Economics, and School of Law in the 

 summer and fall of 1962 (Royce, Bevan, Crutchfield, Paulik, 

 Fletcher, 1963). The study indicated that the size of the fishing 

 fleet on the American side should be reduced by at least one-third to 

 provide a level of fishing intensity that would permit almost con- 

 tinuous fishing and would facilitate accurate scientific management. 

 For reasons that are too complex to discuss here, the Washington 

 Legislature took no action on this report in the 1963 session. 



For the moment the problem of excessive gear has been met in 

 the halibut industry. Under early regulations the total catch was 

 severely limited in order to rebuild the stocks. These early regula- 

 tions encouraged each vessel to catch as many fish as possible in as 

 short a time as possible in order to be within the total quota. Limita- 

 tion of catch and increase in the ninnber of fishing vessels brought 

 about a gradual reduction of the season to as little as 24 days. 



However, through various modifications of the halibut treaty, 

 the last one of which occurred in 1954, the Coinmission was given 

 greater discretionary powers in opening and closing seasons in parts 



