48 



resources there are in the ocean; as fleets have increased so has pressure 

 to utilize them. 



Expanding fisheries have also driven assessments of the limits on 

 those resources; competition among nations for a common-property resource 

 has often resulted in massive depletions. It is awareness of the limits 

 that has resulted in the formation of national and international management 

 regulations. These regulations have attempted to control fishing mortality 

 to preserve stocks, and have, generally, been adopted in the following 

 sequence: 



• Mesh regulations--restrictions on mesh size to permit escape of 

 young fish from each year-class in an effort to preserve the adult 

 stock for spawning purposes; 



• Size limits for the same reason; 



• Area and season closures--it became clear early that mesh regulations 

 alone did not serve the purpose of maintaining allowable surpluses; 

 offshore fishing is conducted far from land and consequently far from 

 enforcement powers; 



t Limits on the allowable catch, usually in terms of weight; 



• Limits on the allowed fishing effort. 



It should be pointed out, then, that simple resource inventories are 

 relatively straightforward and generally free from fishing-related complications; 

 evaluations concerning how much is out there, where it is located, and the 

 best fishing strategy are a science unencumbered by fishing activity. How- 

 ever, it is by no means a simple science: resource surveys cost money, 

 take time, and are subject to every environmental fluctuation. 



Once an inventory has been completed, however, information as to the 

 effects of man's harvesting activity on that stock must be developed to 

 produce assessments of the potential yield; presently an enormously diffi- 

 cult task: 



