APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
ai 
south as far as the Columbia Fiver. (Canadian fishermen also fish off- 
shore of California, Oregon, and Washington for albdcore tuna during the 
summertime. In addition, a fleet of about 25 to 30 U.S. groundfish 
trawlers fish the inside waters of British Columbia (Queen Charlotte 
Sound and Hecate Strait). These joint U.S.-Canadian fisheries have not 
been under any effective joint agreement although both governments have 
long realized the need for joint management programs. 
The current executive agreement with Canada relating to reciprocal 
fishing within the 3- to 12-mile fishing zone of either country has 
provided for stability in the management and continued fishing of 
traditional fishing grounds by the fishermen of both countries. Accord- 
ing to provisions of the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 
(Sec. 202, b), it will be necessary to renegotiate the bilateral executive 
agreement with Canada before March 1, 1977 if there is to be a continuation 
of the reciprocal fishing rights within the 200-mile zone by fishermen 
of both countries. 
The bilateral executive agreements with the Soviet Union, Poland, 
and Japan, regulating the fisheries of these countries off the Pacific 
Northwest have reduced conflict between the foreign and domestic fisher- 
men, but unfortunately the large fishing effort coupled by inadequate 
control of the foreign fishermen have resulted in substantial overfishing 
of Pacific Ocean perch and reductions in the Pacific hake and black cod 
stocks. Again, the FCMA requires renegotiation of the agreements to 
conform to the provisions of the act. 
The Atlantic Coast States 
On the Atlantic coast, the International Convention for Northwest 
Atlantic Fisheries is the major international fishery agreement although 
there are bilateral executive agreements with Canada, Poland, and the 
U.S.S.R. The ICNAF Convention and the executive bilateral agreements 
have come under increasing domestic criticisms in recent years as the 
increasing fishing effort by all nations and lack of uniformly effective 
control over the fishing has led to depletion of certain stocks such as 
haddock and yellow tail fiounder and a substantial decline in the total 
fisheries biomass. Without question, the international agreements have 
prevented wide-spread depletion cf fishery stocks off the United States 
Atlantic coast in recent years, but they have not been effective enough 
to prevent depletion of some of the smaller stocks of fish, especially 
those stocks which intermingie on common fishing grounds with the larger 
stocks of herring and mackerel. United States scientists are convinced 
that even these abundant dominant species are overfished, and have 
recommended drastic reductions in fishing effort as a result. The 
United States coastal fisheries have been adversely affected by the 
reduction in fish stocks. 
American fisheries leaders from the New England and mid-Atlantic 
area have been very critical of the international agreements have 
advocated the unilateral extension of fishery jurisdiction hy the United 
