APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
4) 
Whaling Commission claim, however, that while the harvest of whales 
during the decades of the 1950's and the 1960's was too heavy, the 
hunting is now under control, and that the whale catch is less than the 
growth of the stocks of these animals. Thus, it appears as though the 
stocks of whales, including many thought to be endangered a few years 
ago, are on the increase. However, because of the slow growth rate and 
rate of reproduction, it will be many decades before the stocks of some 
species of these large marine mammals will again be plentiful. 
Considerable whaling in the Atlantic and Pacific takes place within 
two hundred miles of coastal countries. Thus, whaling will be affected 
by the extension of jurisdiction and will have an effect on the numbers 
of these animals taken. Within waters under the jurisdiction of the 
United States, the taking of whales is already prohibited by the Marine 
Mammals Act. Whaling in the North Pacific Ocean by Japan and the Soviet 
Union will be affected by the United States extension of jurisdiction 
over fisheries to 200 miles. 
BROAD EFFECTS OF A 200-MILE FISHERY ZONE 
The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 becomes fully 
operative on March 1, 1977. The legislation itself has two major 
objectives. First, it extends the jurisdiction of the United States 
over fisheries resources to 200 miles. (The United States has exercised 
control to 12 miles since 1966.) Secondly, it establishes a national 
program for the conservation and management of living marine resources 
by establishing a number of regional councils composed of federal and 
state fisheries officials and specialists from universities, the fisheries 
industry, and the public. The regional councils, with the Secretary of 
Commerce, will initiate fisheries management plans called for by the 
legislation. Without question, this legislation is the most important 
law ever enacted by the United States with respect to marine fisheries. 
Among other things, the law calls for a renegotiation of all inter- 
national agreements and treaties so as to make them conform to the 
legislation. Clearly this unilateral assertion of jurisdiction will 
affect the activities of the close to 1,000 foreign fishing vessels 
catching on the order of three million tons of fish within the 200-mile 
limit of the United States. It is unlikely that these nations will 
casually agree to the extension of jurisdiction by the United States. 
It seems equally apparent that the establishment of a national policy 
for the conservation and management of marine fisheries will have a 
tremendous impact on the activities of all fishermen, foreign as well as 
domestic. 
THE LAW OF THE SEA 
It must be kept in mind that, since 1968, the United States has 
been a member of the United Nations Seabed Committee drafting a new Law 
of the Sea Convention. The fourth meeting of the Conference of the Law 
432 
