INTRODUCTION 



Working Paper No. 1 is a survey of the economic data which will 

 be needed in order to implement The Fishery Management and Conservation 

 Act of 1976, 



The paper presents a broad background to the subject, including 

 an analysis of the problem and the economic information implications 

 of theAct as it applies to domestic commercial and recreational 

 fisheries and foreign fisheries. It also looks at the existing infor- 

 mation base compiled largely by the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 of the U.S. Department of Commerce and analyzes how that data is 

 deficient for new needs outlined in the Act. 



(It should be noted that the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 recently has made several organizational changes which are not 

 specifically covered in this paper. These organizational changes have 

 not, to date, however, effected the findings in this paper regarding 

 deficiencies in the current fisheries information base.) 



Also included in the paper are a series of data collection 

 tasks and a rough estimation of the funds necessary to carry out such 

 tasks. Excerpts from reviewers substantive comments are included at 

 the end of the paper. 



