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A SCIENTIFIC STAFF 45 



problems were much less complex, so that it was found possible to 

 handle them by a simple matter of allocation of the harvest. Further- 

 more, it must also be recognized that the outstanding results of in- 

 vestigations of the three older fisheries commissions has been due in 

 part to the excellent quality of the scientific leadership and staffs 

 ^vorking in these three organizations. There is, however, little reason 

 ^vhy such high quality personnel cotild not be made available to the 

 North Pacific Commission if an appropriate structure were created 

 to encourage independent, objective research. 



The common characteristics of these different commissions are: 

 (1) the treaties prescribe a clear set of objectives which were agreed 

 upon by all parties; (2) a clear mandate was given to each of these 

 commissions to piu these objectives into force, and the commissions 

 Avere given the po^ver to accomplish these objectives; and (3) each 

 one of these coinmissions has had a single research staff which has 

 been responsible directly to the commission through a director. In 

 the case of the Fur Seal Commission this has been the staff of the 

 United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It was also the sole admin- 

 istrator of the fur seal management program and has accomplished 

 both its management and research tasks with eminent success indi- 

 cating that Avhere the national sections are given an opportunity to 

 operate effectively within the scope of their responsibility, they also 

 can be successful in developing a conservation program. The hali- 

 btit, salmon, and tiuia commissions have hired their own research 

 staffs ^vhich have operated under directors appointed by and respon- 

 sible only to the commissions. Decisions by these commissions have 

 all been by tmanimous vote, sometimes after prolonged argument. 

 However, for the most part these decisions have been based on the 

 restilts of objective scientific research. Through the commissions this 

 research has been tailored to fit the economic, social, and political 

 needs of the fishermen and the industries of the respective countries 

 party to each treaty. 



The method of operation of the above commissions may be com- 

 pared ^vith the functioning of the North Pacific Commission in 

 which, as noted above, the scientific investigations have been carried 

 out by three independent staffs responsible to their respective na- 

 tional sections. The results of the investigations of these independ- 

 ent staffs appear to have been used as much for negotiation as they 

 have been to enable the Commission to discharge the dtuies pre- 



