QUALIFICATIONS FOR ABSTENTION 37 



Unfortunately, investigations of the Commission do not provide 

 complete proof of the exact nature and extent of the relationship 

 between the eastern Bering Sea halibut stock and the stocks in Areas 

 2 and 3A. For example, probably because of the time of year that 

 tags have been put out in Area 3 A, and of the timing of the fishery 

 in the eastern Bering Sea, there have been no recoveries in the Bering 

 Sea of tags put out in Area 2 or in Area 3 A, and thus there is no 

 measure of the rate of interchange of the fish between these two 

 regions. Since the origin of supply of young is fairly well established 

 from Areas 3 A, the movement of adults could logically be in one 

 direction only. It must be remembered that the rate of emigration 

 has been found to be very high (40 per cent). 



While the measure of the mortality rate of the Bering Sea halibiu 

 stock is not considered accurate by some, the values obtained from 

 tagging, from changing catch per imit of effort, and from age com- 

 position are consistent. Ho^vever, the record is not yet long enough 

 to be useful in constructing yield models. Therefore, it is impossible 

 to prove whether the eastern Bering Sea halibut stock is being ex- 

 ploited too heavily or if it could support a more intense fishery. It is 

 noteworthy that as of September 12, 1963, the combined efforts of 

 the United States, Canadian, and Japanese fishermen have not yet 

 resulted in fulfilling the 11,000,000 pound quota arbitrarily set by 

 the North Pacific Commission for this season's Bering Sea catch. 



If we accept the hypothesis that the eastern Bering Sea halibut 

 stock is not an integral part of the Area 3A stock, then it would be 

 necessary that it qualify on its own merits by "reasonably satisfying 

 all" of the conditions for abstention. If we deny this hypothesis and 

 maintain that it is a part of the Area 3A stock, then we would have to 

 justify continued abstention on all of Area 3 including the eastern 

 Bering Sea halibut. Under the circumstances the Halibut Commis- 

 sion apparently felt justified in encouraging an increase of fishing 

 intensity on the Bering Sea stocks to make sure that they were being 

 fully utilized. 



It is obvious that we did not have sufficient information for the 

 eastern Bering Sea halibut stock to prove conclusively that it com- 

 plied with all of the conditions for abstention. On the other hand, 

 there is good evidence that it qualifies by reasonably satisfying all 

 conditions and from the "evidence that indicates" that it is fidly 

 utilized. In other words, the degree of compliance is certainly ''rea- 



