THE INTERNATIONAL NORTH PACIFIC 

 FISHERIES COMMISSION AND ITS WORK 



Among the world's fisheries, those of the North Pacific 

 Ocean are in many respects unique. Vast and valuable stocks 

 of salmon spawn in fresh water, often hundreds of nailes 

 inland, in rivers that intersect thousands of miles of coast- 

 line, from Alaska to California and from Siberia to the 

 islands of Japan. The young soon return to the sea and 

 migrate over thousands of miles of ocean, feeding on rich 

 oceanic pastures as they grow and develop to maturity. 

 Tremendous stocks of halibut spend their entire life in the 

 North Pacific in relatively shallow waters over the conti- 

 nental shelf, and the scientific research that led to manage- 

 ment of these fisheries is a classic example of intelligent 

 utilization of fishery resources. 



The basic principle in management of salnaon stocks is to 

 determine the optimum numbers of fish that must be allowed 

 to reach the spawning grounds, and to regulate the fishery 

 so that these numbers, and no more, escape the fishermen's 

 gear. Obviously, this control becomes nnore precise if regu- 

 lations can be applied close to the spawning streams, and 

 this is why the Pacific coastal states severely restrict 

 salmon fishing on the high seas. 



The prospective development of a large high-seas salmon 

 fishery by foreign interests after World War II, therefore, 

 threatened to interfere seriously with management of Ameri- 

 can stocks. Alaskan salmon fisheries were especially vul- 

 nerable, particularly the large and valuable red salmon 

 stocks of Bristol Bay, in the Bering Sea, Entry into force of 

 the International Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of 

 the North Pacific Ocean between the United States, Canada, 

 and Japan in 1953 demonstrated the importance that these 

 three fishing nations placed upon conservation of high- seas 

 fishery resources, and their recognition of the need for 

 research and preservation of historic fishing rights. 



Growth of the Japanese high-seas fishery has caused 

 increasing concern in Alaska, and the responsibilities and 

 activities of the International North Pacific Fisheries Com- 

 mission with respect to this situation have not always been 

 clearly understood. Accordingly, Governor Egan of Alaska 

 issued an invitation to the United States Section of the 

 Commission to hold its first meeting of I960 in Juneau, so 

 that the State Legislature and the public would have an 

 opportunity to understand better the Convention and the 

 activities that have taken place since it was ratified in 1953, 



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