RELATIO^B BCTOEEN THE AMERICAN TUNA FLEET AN3 THE LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES 

 HAVE BEEN GOOD CONSiOERiNG TWE LARGE NUMBER OF BOATS INVOLVED. SEIZURES OF AMERICAN 

 VESSELS HAVE FOLLOWED INCREASED TERRITORIAL WATER CLAIMS AND CHANGES IN FISHING 

 REGULATIONS. ALTHOUGH THE UNITED STATES RECOGNIZES ONLY THE 3-MILE LIMIT, SOME 

 ■COUNTRIES ARE ENFORCING CLAIMS UP TO 12 MILES. AMERICAN FISHERMEN HAVE OBSERVED 

 SUCH CLAIMS FOR PVFPOSES OF EXPEDIENCY, NOT BECAUSE THEY RECOGNIZE THEM AS VALID. 



The ABILITY OF LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES TO DEVELOP LOCAL TUNA INDUSTRIES WILL 

 IWDOUBTEDLY PLAY A MAJOR ROLE !N FUTURE FISHERY LEGISLATION. THERE ARE POSSIBLE 

 ALTERNATE SOURCES OF BAIT, BUT THEY ENTAIL INCONVENIENCE AND INCREASED COSTS AT 



THIS TiMEo Present research to develop artificial or alternate tuna baits is 



PROMISING, AND C0U.D RELIEVE THE TUNA FLEET FROM ITS ALMOST TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON 

 foreign SUPPLIES. RESULTS OF RECENT EXPLORATION INDICATE THAT ThERE ARE SUFFICIENT 

 STOCKS OF TUNA IN THE HIGH SEAS BEYOND ALL TERRITORIAL JURISDICTIONS TO SUPPORT 

 THE PRESENT INDUSTRY IF SOME OF THE EXISTING FISHING QBOUNCS WERE CLOSED. 



QUANTITY AND VALUE OF PRODUCTION 



It has been shown that the United States accounted for about 32 

 percent of world production of tuna and tionalike fishes in 19^1 • 

 That harvest was taken almost entirely by Pacific Coast States fisher- 

 aeno A complete statistical survey of the catch of tuna and tunalike 

 fishes was made throughout the United States in 1950 o The results 

 of this siorvey with respect to the quantity of the catch, together 

 with estimates of the quantity of the catch for 19^1 and 1952, are 

 shown in table U?. This table shows the preponderance of the Pacific 

 Coast States catch in the total of tuna and tunalike fishes produced 

 in the United States » 



The fact that the preponderant part of the United States catch 

 of tuna and tunalike fishes has been made by Pacific Coast States 

 fishermen has been the case historically for many years. Although 

 canplete statistical suin/^eys of the United States catch of tuna and 

 tunalike fishes were made in 191^5? 19b0 and a nimjber of prior years, 

 these surveys do not give the total catch of these fish exactly. In 

 those years small quantities of certain tuna and tunalike species 

 caught on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts were reported under other fish 

 names since the identification of those fish was not clear. However, 

 the particular fish which were not identified properly, principally 

 little tuna and bonito, make up the smaller part of the Atlantic and 

 Gulf Coast catch. Blnefin is the largest item in the total of that 

 catcho Complete data for the catch of bluefin in the Atlantic Coast 

 States are available for a number of years and are shown in table U8 . 

 From this table it may be observed that in all years, from 1929 

 through 1950, liie Atlantic ooast bluefin catch, which makes up the 

 bulk of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast States catch of tuna, was small 

 compared to the tuna catch of the Pacific Coast States which is shown 

 by species in table h9 for the years 1911 through 19^0. 



168 



