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nation's important saltwater spe- 

 cies have been overfished, mean- 

 ing more fish have been taken 

 than there are young fish to re- 

 place them, according to a recent 

 report by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. 



\\;ho exactly is at fault in the decline 

 is much debated. Old-time fishermen 

 blame factory trawlers, boats the size 

 of football fields that using sonar and 

 satellite communications to track huge 

 schools of fish in remote areas. The 

 trawler owners blame small-boat oper- 

 ators who do not follow the rules, fish- 

 ing. out of season or using illegal nets. 

 Environmentalists blame industries 

 that have drained wetlands and 

 dumped toxic materials into shallow 

 bays. 



Experts seem to agree on a few 

 points. Pollution has indeed played a 

 role; Pacific salmon have disappeared 

 because the freshwater streams where 

 they spawn have been soiled or are 

 blocked by dams. Restoring the 

 streams in the Northwest may cost 

 more than $2 billion. 



But, the experts say, fishermen 

 themselves are also to blame for tak- 

 ing more than the sea could give back > in what he is regulating. A marine 

 in ^lew England, the mid-Atlantic and I biologist, he owns a share in a factory 

 theGulf of Mexico. "You can boil it all I trawler that takes pollock from the 

 down to the fact that there are far too I Bering Sea, 

 many fishermen and not enough fish," 



regional councils, which themselves 

 are dominated by the fishing industry. 

 In most cases, the councils have been 

 unable or unwilling to set fishing limits 

 for themselves. 



Critics say it is as if the national 

 forests were handed over to the timber 

 industry to decide how many trees to 

 cut every year. The fishermen who 

 defend the present system say the 

 councils are weighted toward their in- 

 dustry because they are the most 

 knowledgeable and have a self-interest 

 in preserving fishermen's livelihood. 



As a result, most fishing areas are 

 free-for-alls, as fisherman try to catch 

 as many fish as possible before a rival 

 does. Congressional leaders say the 

 councils will probably be remade this 

 year as legislators consider reauthoriz- 

 ing the nation's fundamental fishing 

 law, the Magnuson Act. 



"If I had my druthers, these councils 

 would be run by professional managers 

 rather than political appointees," said 

 Wally Pereyra, a member of one of the 

 panels, the North Pacific Fishery Man- 

 agement Council, which covers Alas- 

 kan waters. "But as it is, if you re- 

 moved people who have a stake in the 

 industry, you'd probably have to ex- 

 cuse everyone on the council." 



Like many members of these coun- 

 cils, Mr. Pereyra has a financial stake 



reached the limit of what they can 

 produce. Nine out of the world's 17 

 major fisheries are in serious decline, 

 and four others are classified as com- 

 mercially depleted, according to a re- 

 port last summer by the United Na- 

 tion's Food and Agriculture Office. 



United States officials thought they 

 could avoid becoming part of a global 

 trend of overfishing when they passed 

 the Magnuson Act in 1976. It expanded 

 the coastal economic zone claimed by 

 the United States from 3 miles offshore 



Pollution and 

 overfishing 

 produce a year of 

 tiny catches. 



said Dick Schaefer. the conservation 

 director of the national fisheries serv- 

 ice.- 



Technology has made fishing so so- 

 phisticated that major marine areas 

 can be cleaned out in a short time. 



And the system set up to regulate 

 these public resources is awash with 

 conflicts of interest. Fishing in United 

 States waters is regulated by eight 



More Demand for Fish 



Worldwide, fish provide more than 

 half of all the animal protein consumed 

 by people. As the global population has 

 exploded, fishing has tried to keep up 

 with the demand, growing by more 

 than 50 percent in one generation's 

 time. 



But the oceans, which cover 70 per- 

 cent of the earth's surface, may have 



to 200 miles, effectively chasing away 

 large foreign fishing fleets. 



But with foreign fishermen gone, 

 Americans began to build up their 

 fleet, buying huge vessels and equip- 

 ment with low-interest loans backed by 

 the Government. 



Too Many Boats 



For several years, times were good. 

 In the North Pacific, fishermen took in 

 $1.5 billion a year for their Alaskan 

 pollock. In the gulf, the number of 

 shrimpers increased significantly, al- 

 though this led to a large decline in the 

 species of fish, like groupers and red 

 snappers, that are accidently caught in 

 the small-mesh shrimp nets. 



And in New England, many fisher- 

 men had record years as they went 

 after the bounty that had been claimed 

 by boats from Russia, Germany and 

 Spain. 



