the striped bass controversy is emotional, having nothing 

 to do with scientific management. In fact, all available 

 evidence points to the conclusion that, historically, 

 fishing has not had an adverse effect on the striped bass 

 resource. However, the history of the striped bass fishery 

 and attempts to control fishing is an excellent example of 

 the failure of domestic management to address itself to 

 the central issue, namely, control of coastal fisheries for 

 maximum benefit to the public and to the economy. 

 Neither scientists, nor fishermen, nor legislators, nor 

 fishery administrators have demonstrated a recognition 

 that obtaining essential management information should 

 have top priority. 



In some ways an even better example of failure by the 

 states to manage coastal fisheries is provided by the his- 

 tory of the surf clam industry. This began as a major 

 fishery in the middle 1940s off New York and New Jer- 

 sey. Peak landings were reached in the two states com- 

 bined in 1966, but by 1973 and 1974 landings had 

 dropped by about 43%. Meanwhile, the fishery has 

 shifted steadily to the southward, as stocks on northern 

 grounds have been reduced and new resources have been 

 discovered. Most of the catch is now made off Virginia. 

 This is a typical example of the evolution of an un- 

 regulated fishery, a history that has been repeated all too 

 often around the coasts of the United States. The decline 

 cannot be attributed, as declines of other moUuscan 

 shellfisheries have been, to water pollution, for most of 

 the resource inhabits the continental shelf, away from 

 coastal contamination. 



One encouraging recent development has been that 

 several coastal species have supported increasing catches 

 in the 1970s, and these increases clearly have been made 

 possible by increases in abundance. Major species in 

 New York Bight which have shown such increases are 

 scup, summer flounder, bluefish, weakfish, striped bass, 

 and blue crab (McHugh 1976b). The reasons for these in- 

 creases are not known, and there is no guarantee that 

 they will continue. Some people have speculated that 

 pollution abatement in the coastal zone has been a fac- 

 tor (Clark in press; McHugh in press b), but there is no 

 proof that this is true. Recent agreements with other 

 nations, which have reduced catches of certain food 

 fishes of major importance to American fishermen, have 

 been a step in the right direction. But the major un- 

 solved problem is to improve incentives of the in- 

 dividual states to manage domestic marine fisheries 

 wisely and to provide the means of achieving successful 

 management of living resources of the coastal zone. 

 Perhaps the recently developed State-Federal fishery 

 management program will provide the incentive. Now 

 that the United States has extended its jurisdiction to 

 200 miles, the states will be obliged to improve their 

 scientific knowledge of coastal fishery resources and their 

 fishery management capabilities. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I thank Paul Hamer, Principal Fisheries Biologist, 



Nacote Creek Research Station, Marine Fisheries Sec- 

 tion, Division of Fish, Game and Shell Fisheries, Depart- 

 ment of Environmental Protection, State of New Jersey, 

 and Eugene A. LoVerde, Fishery Reporting Specialist, 

 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), NOAA, 

 Toms River, N.J., for reading an early draft of this 

 manuscript and providing comments and corrections. 

 Thanks are due also to Carl. J. Sindermann, Director, 

 Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center, NMFS, 

 NOAA, Highlands, N.J., and anonymous members of his 

 staff, for advice and comments. Bruce B. Collette, Scien- 

 tific Editor, NMFS, NOAA, and two anonymous readers 

 also provided editorial services and helpful critical com- 

 ments, for which I am grateful. Special thanks go to 

 Anne Williams for assistance in compiling the ICNAF 

 catch statistics and to Marjorie Sumner for the tedious 

 task of typing several drafts of the manuscript and 

 catching numerous errors and inconsistencies. 



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AHERN.M. 



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48 



