4 

 These sections specify that among the purposes of the Act is the 

 achievement of optimum sustainable yield (OSY) from each fishery. OSY is 

 defined as: (1) the amount of fish which maximizes national benefits and 

 (2) as maximum sustainable yield (MSY) as modified by relevant economic 

 social or ecological factors. 



The implication of these sections is that the information base avail- 

 able to the Councils must be adequate to permit determination of OSY. The 

 required biological data would include sustainable yield relationships and 

 the rate of stock replenishment in response to incremental surpluses of 

 sustainable yield over catch. The economic data requirements would include 

 cost and returns, price projections and regional employment considerations 

 for a range of management options. Whenever management plans will cause 

 variations in the quantities of fish which reach markets, these plans will 

 have impacts on prices and hence on incomes of people employed in the 

 various sectors of the fishing industry. These price effects can be pro- 

 jected through price and market structure analyses. The direct impacts of 

 changes in landings and prices can also induce changes in expenditures and 

 employment in other sectors of the economy; especially those with strong 

 linkages to the fishing industry. These induced or secondary income and 

 employment effects can be important; especially from a regional viewpoint. 



(ii) National standards for fisheiy conservation and management 



Section 301 specifies broad national standards for fishery conserva- 

 tion and management. Among these are consideration of economic concentra- 

 tion in the harvest sector if domestic allocation schemes are implemented, 

 and promotion of efficiency. Consideration of efficiency requires a formal 

 integration of biological and economic concepts and an adequate data base 

 to express these concepts in quantitative terms. The economic data 



