APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
68 
Further dramatic progress occurred at the October 1973 
meeting with regard to quotas. In June of that year, the 
ICNAF scheme had nearly broken down when the United States 
insisted that national quotas be imposed which would result 
in significant reductions for all of the participating nations 
other than ourselves and Canada, who would have been entitled 
to moderate increases in catch. Faced with the refusal of 
the Commission to adopt the quotas proposed by the United 
States, there were threats of the withdrawal of the United 
States from ICNAF. That, combined with the growing momentum 
in the Congress, carefully monitored by ICNAF participants, 
for a 200-mile fisheries jurisdiction, resulted in adoption 
of our proposal. In October 1973 sizeable cuts were taken 
by non-North American participants. For example the U.S.S.R. 
agreed to a reduction in catch from 490 thousand tons in 
1973 to 342.5 thousand tons in 1974, while our catch in 
1973 as 191.3 thousand tons was increased to 195 thousand 
tons. 
Reliance on the species quota regulatory system instituted in 1969 
has not proved adequate for the effective management of the resources 
contained in the convention area: 
There is a belief that the fishing capabilities now de- 
ployed in the convention area are out of proportion to the 
available resources, and that there are far more vessels 
present in those fisheries than are needed to maximize 
harvests. The pressure of this large and highly mobile 
fishing capacity poses a threat not only to the particular 
species being fished at the time, but to the long-term 
stability of the entire biomass of fish in the convention 
area. Without overall effort limitation, proposed by the 
United States in 1972 and under study in ICNAF, or other, 
more effective conservation vehicles, excess fishing could 
merely shift from one species to another, depleting each 
in turn. It is possible that some stocks in those fisheries 
can be depleted within one or ‘two seasons of concentrated 
fishing. For ecologically inter-related stocks, this poses 
the possibility of a domino effect being set into motion. 
The incidental catch of depleted stocks will further retard 
the prospect of their recovery. 
Lb id apt Gl. 
SIbid., p. 482-483. 
459 
