I . BACKGROUND 

 A. The Problem 



The Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976 is potentially 

 the most significant institutional change in the history of U.S. fisheries 

 management.^ Under the provisions of the Act, regional management councils 

 are created with broad authority to recommend fisheries management plans to 

 the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implementation. 



The Act specifies certain broad national standards and purposes, 

 including fisheries development and management for "optimum sustainable 

 yield" (OSY) ,* which are to be pursued. The exact meaning of OSY will 

 presumably evolve over time through the decisions of Regional Councils; 

 but is to reflect maximum sustainable yield as modified "by any relevant 

 economic, social or ecological factor" (Section 3(18)). In conjunction 

 with congressional testimony and statements of Congressional intent it is 

 clear that Congress intended implementation of the Act to reflect economic 

 factors. In order to do this it is imperative that certain minimal economic 

 information requirements be defined and measures implemented to ensure that 

 they are met as soon as is practicable. The objectives of this Report are: 



1. to identify economic information requirements under the Act; 



2. to describe the current economic data base; 



3. to specify additional data needed to meet the requirements 

 identified in objective 1; 



4. to project program costs to acquire the data identified 

 in objective 3. 



^94th Congress, H. R. 200, Public Law 94-265, April 13, 1976. Here- 

 after, the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976 is referred 

 to simply as "the Act." 



*Throughout this paper, the author refers to "optimum sustainable 

 yield" rather than the term "optimum yield" as used in the Act. This is 

 to emphasize that allowable catch is to be taken without future depletion 

 of parental stocks. 



