APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
61 
First of all, fur seal operations no longer involve private 
entrepreneurs, but are carried out by government agencies. This 
greatly facilitates their regulation. Secondly, although there 
are no formal barriers to entry, no new States have attempted 
to enter the fur seal business in the Northeast Pacific, 
primarily because of its modest financial and economic value. 
The absence of new entrants is probably the most important factor 
in the continued viability of the fur seal arrangements.! 
Since the 1957 Convention prohibits all pelagic sealing, the 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, extending the United 
States jurisdiction over fisheries to 200 miles, will have little sub- 
stantive effect on the Interim Convention. The same may be said for 
the Draft Protocol which sustains the ban on pelagic sealing. 
C. Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention 
The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission was established by a 
convention (originally between the United States and Costa Rica) signed 
on May 31, 1949 and which entered into force in March 1950. At the 
present time there are 8 members of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna 
Commission: Canada, Costa Rica, France, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, 
Panama and the United States. (However, in 1974 vessels of 13 nations: 
Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Japan, Mexico, 
The Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Peru, Spain, and the United States 
fished for tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.) Each member nation has 
1 vote and decisions of the Commission require a positive vote from 
all members. 
The primary function of the IATTC is investigative; the purpose of 
the Commission being to inquire into the condition of yellowfin 
(Neothunnus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus) tuna and to recommend joint 
conservation measures to be implemented in order to effectively manage 
these species around maximum sustainable yield. In order to fulfill 
this task, the Commission employs its own scientific staff. (The 
Management function of the IATTC is not explicitly stated in the 1949 
Convention. However, since 1967, the IATTC has engaged in the setting 
of overall quotas for the optimum harvest of yellowfin tuna.) 
The future of the IATTC depends on its solution of a number of 
problems, including one which bears directly on the United States 
extension of jurisdiction to 200 miles. First, the Commission suffers 
from a lack of funds. This financial constraint directly impinges on 
the amount of ocean research that the Commission may carry on during 
each fiscal year. 
‘albert W. Koers, International Regulation of Marine Fisheries: 
A Study of Regional Fisheries Organizations (London: Fishing News 
Books, 1973), pp. 86-87. 
452 
