APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
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effort accompanied by the lack of adequate methods to deal with this 
increased effort and the increased number of nations participating, 
overfishing of major stocks of living marine resources off the coast of 
the United States has occurred. 
THE EXECUTIVE BILATERAL AGREEMENTS 
With the increase in foreign fishing off the coast of mainland 
United States and Alaska, as mentioned in the previous section, and with 
the subsequent conflicts that arose as a result of the physical presence 
of these vessels in waters off the United States coast, it became evi- 
dent that there was a need for improved operating procedures by foreign 
and domestic fishermen to minimize conflicts arising from competition 
for common stocks of fish and/or common fishing grounds. A common 
complaint by United States fishermen was that their fixed fishing gear 
(halibut set lines and crab and lobster pots off both the Pacific and 
Atlantic coasts), were being destroyed by the large foreign trawl vessels. 
A series of bilateral executive department agreements were negotiated 
with the Soviet Union, Japan, Canada and several other nations to resolve 
these specific problems. The purpose of these agreements was not to set 
new ocean policy, but to reach an understanding with foreign fishermen 
so that the economic interests of the United States fishing industry 
could be better protected while the rights of foreign fishermen on the 
high seas could also be preserved. 
There are presently 11 of these agreements in effect for the Atlantic 
and Pacific Oceans. These bilateral agreements have tended to provide 
guidelines for governing the conduct of foreign and United States vessels 
fishing primarily off the coast of the United States. In general, they 
have succeeded in minimizing conflict between United States and foreign 
fishermen and have reduced--but not eliminated--economic losses to 
United States fishermen. Table 4 gives a list of these bilateral agree- 
ments and their purpose. The Agreements are included as Appendix I of 
the report. 
A REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES TREATIES AND EXECUTIVE AGREEMENTS 
In this discussion, treaties will be considered in relation to 
general geographic regions established under the Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act of 1976. While a number of the international treaties 
overlap the boundaries of the regions established by the Act, it never- 
theless appears appropriate to consider by region what effect the exten- 
sion of jurisdiction and the new management regimes will have on these 
treaties and on the foreign fisheries and governments party to the 
treaties. 
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