APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
vi 
SUMMARY 
1. The United States, with the fourth longest coastline and the 
third largest continental shelf of any nation in the world, has unilat- 
erally claimed exclusive jurisdiction over fisheries to a distance of 
200 miles from its coastline. The legislation, Public Law 94-265, was 
signed into law on April 13 and will become fully effective March 1, 
UT 
2. At the present time there are about 400 fishing vessels from 
some twenty foreign nations fishing within 200 miles of the United 
States catching about 3 million tons of fish annually. 
3. Major stocks of fish important to the U.S. fishing industry 
have been overfished by foreign fishermen although by no means have 
foreign fishermen been the sole cause of overfishing of stocks of fish 
of economic importance to the United States. United States fishermen 
have also contributed to the decline in catch of certain important 
species. 
4, In addition to directly reducing the supply of fishery resources 
off the coast of the United States foreign fishermen have damaged fixed 
fishing gear and have interfered with fishing operations of United 
States fishermen. 
5. While world production of fish has increased at a rate of about 
5 percent per year, increasing in absolute quantity in recent years to 
about 70 million metric tons, United States domestic production has 
remained relatively unchanged at about 2 million metric tons annually 
during the same period. Thus, during the period when the total consump- 
tion of edible fish doubled in the United States, the domestic fishing 
industry failed to capture any significant part of the increased market. 
6. The United States is a member of 8 international fisheries and 
marine mammal conventions designed to provide for the conservation of 
living resources and for the orderly operation of fishing vessels of 
various nations fishing common stocks of fish on common fishing grounds. 
In addition the United States is a party to 10 executive agreements 
which provide a basis for dealing with particular problems of a bilat- 
eral nature. 
7. The conventions and executive agreement were quite successful 
during the years of their implementation, but in recent years the number 
of foreign nations and the number of foreign flag vessels have increased 
to the extent that the effectiveness of the conventions and agreements 
has become increasingly less effective in conserving the resources and 
protecting the rights of United States fishermen. 
8. Public Law 94-265, in an attempt to correct this imbalance, 
requires renegotiation by May 1, 1977, of the fisheries treaties and 
executive agreements in order to bring them into conformance with the 
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