APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
been declining since (figure 4). For 1975, preliminary reports indicate 
that the catch probably did not even reach 1.5 mmt. The National Marine 
Fisheries Commission's Northwest Center scientists report substantial 
depletion of the stocks of Alaskan pollock and predict even lower catches 
for cher suieumer 
Other species have also been depleted by foreign fishing fleets. 
The incidental take of Pacific halibut, particularly by Japan, but also 
by the Soviet Union, has contributed substantially to the reduced produc- 
tivity of Pacific halibut. The catch of Pacific halibut in the North- 
eastern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea has declined by more than 50 percent 
in recent years (Figs. 5 and 6). The small Alaskan shrimp has been 
fished heavily Ly Japan and the Soviet Union in the Gulf of Alaska and 
particularly the Bering Sea. The particular stock fished by the Japanese 
and Soviets in the Bering Sea has been drastically reduced (Fig. 7). 
The Pacific ocean perch stocks located off the Oregon-Washington coast 
and in the Gulf of Alaska have also been seriously reduced by Japanese 
and Soviet vessels (Figs. 8-9). The same is true of the yellowfin sole, 
other flounders, and herring (Figs. 10-12) of the Bering Sea. These 
northern stocks of groundfish have been exclusively fished by foreign 
fishermen; there is no significant United States fishery on them. 
On the Atlantic coast, Atlantic herring stocks have been overfished 
by the Soviet Union, Poland, and East and West Germany. Atlantic flounders, 
haddock, yellowtail flounder and river herring also have been depleted 
by foreign fishermen in the mid-Atlantic and New England fishing grounds. 
The Atlantic mackerel stock, while not showing a decline in catch until 
1974 and 1975, is also showing indications of stock reduction due to 
foreign fishing. On the other hand, the Atlantic oyster, the Olympia 
oyster of the Pacific coast, the Atlantic and Pacific salmons, the 
Pacific sardine, and the Atlantic menhadden--species which are and have 
been under the sole control of the United States--have also suffered a 
reduction in productivity. The decline of these species has been brought 
about by poor United States management of its inshore environment and 
fisheries. 
Effects of Foreign Fisheries Other than Overfishing 
Foreign fisheries have had a number of adverse effects on United 
States fisheries other than overfishing and competing for the catch. In 
the case of Pacific ocean perch in the area off the coast of California, 
Oregon and Washington, the incidental fishing for these limited stocks, 
in contrast to directed fishing effort, by Soviet fishermen has kept the 
stock at a low level of abundance and deprived American fishermen of 
their traditional take of this species. In the Atlantic, the indiscrim- 
inate fishing for mixed stocks of herring, flounders and fluke, haddock, 
river herring, and yellowtail flounder by foreign fishermen has seriously 
reduced the total biomass and thus threatened the economic viability of 
coastal fisheries of the United States.? That is, even though the total 
Published and unpublished reports of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries 
Commission (ICNAF) and United States section of that Commission. 
399 
