Without control the Canadian and United States catch in the eastern Pacific would 

 probably have been in the vicinity of 30 million pounds annually, paralleling the conditions 

 that have developed in the unregulated European Atlantic and the western Pacific Japanese 

 halibut fisheries. It would have consisted, as in Europe, of a high proportion of young 

 fish 2 to 4 years of age and under 5 pounds caught chiefly by trawl net gear and incidental 

 to the catch of other species. In contrast, in the North American Pacific halibut fishery 

 where all net-gear is prohibited, the catch consists of individuals chiefly from 6 to 25 

 years of age and weighing from 5 to over 200 pounds. 



The rebuilt Pacific halibut fishery is the major source of income for about 250 U.S. 

 vessels and 1,200 fishermen, 80 percent of whom maintain families in States of Washing- 

 ton or Alaska. Also, the rehabilitated stocks provide the market with better quality, 

 larger sized fish and a more stable annual yield. Retail prices continue to be reasonable 

 in relation to other high-quality animal protein as halibut production costs are relatively 

 low due to the built-up stocks, use of improved gear and propulsion machinery, more 

 effective bait, the installation of hydraulic deck controls, vessel refrigeration systems, 

 and many other technological advances all leading to lowered manpower inputs and 

 production costs. 



The modest total investment of about $5 million that the two governments combined 

 have appropriated to the Commission since 1930 has yielded extremely high and con- 

 tinuing economic returns. The cumulative gain in total catch in excess of what the 

 unregulated fishery would have produced over the past 36 years has been worth at least 

 $100 million in gross income to the fishermen. 



This continuing high return on the investment is a constant reaffirmation of the 

 wisdom and foresight manifested over 40 years ago by Canada and the United States when 

 they contracted for the joint scientific management of the Pacific halibut fishery. 



UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN HALIBUT CATCH, 1915-66 



Million pounds 



80 • I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M 



Million pounds 

 80 



1915 '20 '25 



1966 



