It would be appropriate at this point to introduce my 

 colleagues on the U. S. Section: Commissioners Edward 

 W, Allen, Seattle, Secretary of the Commission; John H. 

 Clawson, Anchorage; and Arnie J. Suomela, Washington, 

 D. C. We also have with us several members of our Advisory 

 Committee as well as scientists and other experts from 

 your own Department of Fish and Game and from the U, S, 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in Juneau, Seattle, and 

 Washington, D. C, 



In order to understand the origins of the International 

 North Pacific Fisheries Commission, the treaty under which 

 we operate, it is desirable to review some of the circvim- 

 stances of relatively recent history. Prior to World War II, 

 the interested public of the Pacific coast of the United States 

 realized that great Japanese high-seas fisheries were ex- 

 panding into the North Pacific. Their research vessels were 

 searching towards the Equator and towards the Bering Sea 

 for stocks of fish of all varieties. We know from the incident 

 in the Bering Sea in 1937 that the Japanese were searching 

 then for salmon in the eastern North Pacific. It appears that 

 only prompt diplomatic action by our Government at that 

 early date prevented exploitation on the high seas of salmon 

 stocks of North American origin. 



Many of us, in and out of Government, realized that 

 expansion of fishing by the Japanese after the war, and the 

 change in control in some of the land areas of the western 

 North Pacific, would bring about an inevitable conflict of 

 interest. Some orderly procedure was needed to protect 

 the interests of the United States, yet not interfere with the 

 recognized right under international law of a country to 

 enjoy the freedom of the high seas. 



AH of you know sonriething about the International North 

 Pacific Fisheries Commission. Some of you, I know, under- 

 stand it quite well. The Convention deals with highly complex 

 problems, difficiilt and sometimes conflicting international 

 interests, and relatively new and not widely understood 

 biological and conservation concepts. I believe it will facili- 

 tate our discussions if I first attempt to explain why the 

 Convention was drafted in its present form. 



What is the International Convention for 



the High Seas Fisheries of the 



North Pacific Ocean? 



The Convention is an agreement negotiated between the 

 United States, Canada, and Japan, chiefly concerned with 

 conservation principles and procedures to promote the 

 maximium sustainable yield of North Pacific stocks of fish 

 of "joint interest'*. The Convention runs for a minimum of 

 ten years from June 1953 and will continue thereafter until 

 one year after notice of intention to terminate is given by 

 one of the parties to the Convention. 



