The purse seiners, most of ;Aiich are seasonally employed in 

 both the pilchard and tuna fisheries, are generally larger than the 

 albacore trollers, but more limited in range and facilities for 

 preserving the catch than the clippers.. Their normal area of 

 operations, as indicated in an earlier section, is off southern 

 California and Mexico, although some of the larger vessels may work 

 as far south as the Galapagos Islands » There are about 15 large 

 seiners which fish for tuna the year around in the same areas 

 covered by the clippers. About 100 smaller purse seiners devote 

 approximately 60 percent of their time to tuna, nonnally restricted 

 to waters off Mexico (Real, 1952 )o Being free from the need of live 

 bait, most of their fishing is done on the high seas, but a significant 

 amount is also carried out in waters under the jxirisdiction of foreign 

 countries o 



In the neighborhood of 200 long-range live-bait tuna clippers, 

 using hook and line, operate on the high seas from southern California 

 to the waters off northern Peru. Their total dependence on live 

 bait and their wide range of operations have necessitated a certain 

 amount of their time being spent in waters claimed by the various 

 Latin American countrieso These are the tuna fishing craft which 

 have been vitally affected by territorial water claims and fishing 

 regulations of foreign countries. 



Foreign Territorial Sea Claims and Fishing Regulations 



From Mexico to Peni there are 10 countries off whose coasts 

 our tuna fleet operates. It is often, difficult to establish the 

 exact extent to which a nation claims the territorial sea or 

 fisheries control in adjacent waters due to the ambiguity of the 

 law or the frequencies of changes in the law with changes in 

 administration. Claims to territorial seas which have been 

 asserted (but not necessarily enforced) ty these countries range 

 from 3 to 200 miles, sometimes including contiguous zones estab- 

 lished for various reasons (see Boggs, 1951 )• 



266 



