36 



"The case of haddock. .. (is) typical of the overfishing crisis which 

 now affects nearly every fin fish on Georges Bank. According to re- 

 search surveys by fishery biologists, cod, silver hake, red hake, and 

 some flounders have declined in abundance by about 45 percent in the 

 last 10 years. And sea herring, toward which much of the foreign 

 effort has been directed, have reportedly suffered a 90 percent re- 

 duction in stock size. "(43) 



Thus, evidence now indicates that all the familiar species of the 

 Northwest Atlantic are fully exploited. ^'^^^ Yet fishing effort continues to 

 increase. Cuba, for instance, entered the Atlantic fishery less than a 

 decade ago and now operates over 20 distant-water trawlers. The common- 

 property aspect of the resource intensified competition among different 

 fleets, driving technology development to increasingly refined levels in an 

 effort to harvest scarce fish before others do. 



Now the entire picture has once again shifted. Stock depletions, blamed 

 by the coastal state on such distant-water activities (in some cases this is 

 a false assumption), have resulted in the unilateral extension by some 

 coastal states of fisheries mangement jurisdiction from 12 miles to 200 

 miles. The United States, Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Peru, and others have 

 taken this step, arguing that international management of offshore fish- 

 eries has failed for a host of reasons, and that the coastal state will now 

 take the management responsibilities. 



The Law of the Sea Conference is slowly reaching a similar conclusion, 

 but at the moment, this extension of jurisdiction is an entirely unique 

 concept with relation to the long accepted definition of the "high seas." 

 The basis of the American argument has been that existing fishing technology 

 is more than adequate to rapidly deplete all stocks. Therefore, we cannot 

 afford to wait for international consensus to avoid complete stock 



