APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VI 
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F. International North Pacific Fisheries Convention 
The International North Pacific Fisheries Commission came into 
being as a result of the International Convention for the High Seas 
Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean (with annex and protocol) signed 
on May 9, 1952. Parties to this convention include: Canada, Japan, 
and the United States, though more nations than these three now 
participate in the North Pacific fisheries. 
The scope of the INPFC is comprehensive within the region of the 
North Pacific. Its goal is "to promote and coordinate the scientific 
studies necessary to ascertain the conservation measures required to 
secure the maximum sustained productivity of fisheries of joint interest 
to the Contracting Parties and to recommend such measures to such 
Parties...." (Preamble, International Convention for the High Seas 
Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean). In meeting this management 
challenge, the Commission undertakes three critical functions. . First, 
the Commission administers those provisions in the 1952 Convention 
dealing with abstentions. As a result of these provisions (contained 
in the annex and protocol of the treaty), Japan originally agreed not 
to fish various species of halibut and herring of North American origin, 
where Canada and the United States were engaged in commercial harvest 
of the stocks (removed from abstention in 1963), and salmon originating 
in the rivers and streams of North America. With regard to the latter 
species, the Japanese high seas salmon fishery has been contained in 
an area west of the abstention line of 175° West Longitude in the 
Bering Sea and the North Pacific. No Japanese fishing vessels are 
permitted to fish for salmon east of this line. 
The abstention principle also has particular relevance for the 
Canadian government and their fishing industry. Via this Convention, 
Canada agreed to refrain from fishing for salmon originating in United 
States streams and rivers of Bristol Bay, Alaska. 
The second function of the INPFC is to investigate the condition 
of stocks not subject to conservation measures, but currently exploited 
by at least two parties to the Convention for the purpose of determining 
whether or not there is a need for joint conservation measures (Article 
III (1) (c)). Halibut was the first species to come within the compe- 
tence of this article. Joint conservation measures were instituted in 
1963, when certain halibut stocks were removed from abstention. 
The third function of the Commission is outlined in the Protocol 
to the Convention. In this section, the INPFC is authorized to examine 
the provisional line of 175° West Longitude for the purpose of readjust- 
ment if it is determined that another line more accurately reflects 
the division of salmon of American origin from those of Asian origin. 
The 1952 Convention expired in 1962 and has since been extended on 
a year by year basis. The Commission, as a result of this Convention, 
is structured around three national sections, each of which has one vote. 
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