52 



inputs, enforcement of management decisions, and adequate funding to 

 undertake the necessary tasks. However, a thorough understanding of the 

 marine ecosystem requires information that remains prone to bias, uncer- 

 tainty, and error. Everchanging fishing technologies introduce a factor 

 that further complicates an already complex natural system (Part I). The 

 depressed economic nature of the domestic fishing industry, the presence 

 of enormous foreign fishing infrastructures exerting pressure on the 

 United States to continue their operations, and a clear awareness that the 

 species found in the ocean are interrelated demonstrate that the costs to 

 "count every fish in the ocean" may be prohibitive. Consequently, it is 

 important to assess the present state-of-the art of assessments, future 

 needs, and the time requirements to meet those needs. This latter area is 

 critical, for while much of the necessary information may be developed 

 given enough time (and free of man-induced perturbations through fishing 

 activity), "...we don't have fifty years to get our fish back."^°^^ 



Assessment scientists are faced with a dilemma: they must provide 

 immediate short-term information that must be based on information that will 

 require years to develop. While those years may have been available prior 

 to foreign fishing pressures, recent events have shown that such pressures 

 can have significant effects in the short term, forcing rapid and critical 

 management decisions that, in the absence of sound scientific advice, may 

 be incorrect. 



A study of ICNAF history indicates that while allocation decisions 



were political, great pressure was exerted on the scientific community to 



(62) 

 provide a number to rationalize a decision. The literature available 



on assessments indicates that assessment scientists have always been frank 



