APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
Management Controls 
Each coastal State has jurisdiction over groundfish re- 
sources in its territorial waters, generally a distance of 
3 miles off their coast. The Federal Government has juris- 
diction over the contiguous zone, currently 3 to 12 miles off 
the coast, and over U.S. vessels operating in international 
waters. The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, 
effective March 1, 1977, extends Federal jurisdiction to 200 
miles off U.S. coasts. The International Commission for the 
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF), representing member 
nations, recommends management actions to conserve fishery 
resources in international waters off the Atlantic coast 
from Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In addition, 
bilateral fishing agreements have been negotiated between 
the United States and the Soviet Union, and Poland and 
Romania to provide an additional basis for management. 
The States along the Atlantic coast have enacted 
numerous regulations affecting the groundfish fishery in 
their territorial waters, which include gear restrictions on 
trawling in certain areas or during certain seasons; licens- 
ing of fishermen and craft; and size limits for some species. 
For example, in Massachusetts there are a number of special 
legislative acts enacted over the years, which among other 
things, limit the type of gear which can be used in certain 
areas. Under these acts, trawling is prohibited within 3 
miles off the coast in a large area north of Boston. Most 
State regulations, according to one State official, were 
designed to conserve the resources and to allocate them to 
maintain balance among competing user groups, but that many 
are antiquated and are in need of change. 
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 
Resource availability 
The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of groundfish off 
the Atlantic coast from Maine to Cape Hatteras, North 
Carolina, is about 774 million pounds. The quota for 1977 is 
518 million pounds, reflecting in part the overfished condi- 
tion of some species, as shown in table 7. In 1974 U.S. 
fishermen caught about 238 million pounds of groundfish in 
this area according to preliminary statistics. If resource 
availability is increased to levels approximating the MSY, 
a total of about 536 million additional pounds of groundfish 
would be available to U.S. fishermen. While less information 
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