Tuna, the third most valuable U.S. catch, are the object of intensive fisheries research. 

 The school shown here was photographed from an underwater viewing port on the 

 NOAA ship Townsend Cromwell on a tuna expedition in the Pacific. 



The conservation system of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Com- 

 mission, which has had the yellowfin tuna of the eastern Pacific under a 

 catch Hmitation since 1966, continued to maintain the resource at a high 

 level of abundance, but faced severe strains over the problem of providing 

 equitable opportunities for the growing fleets of the United States and other 

 nations. 



In the Atlantic, as the International Commission for Conservation of 

 Atlantic Tunas moved into its second year of operation, the conservation 

 requirements of Atlantic tuna stocks became more sharply focused. Brazil 

 acted to implement the fishery jurisdiction claimed in its 200-mile territorial 

 sea proclamation of the previous year. This alarmed the operators of the 

 large U.S. flag shrimp-trawler fleet fishing the Brazilian coast from bases 

 in Guyana, Trinidad, Surinam, and French Guiana. It also caused concern 

 to the Governments of these countries where shrimp processing and export- 

 ing is of economic significance. In October, United States and Brazilian 

 delegations met at Brazilia for a week of preliminary talks to explore ways 

 of mutual accommodation in the shrimp resources of northeastern South 

 America and to avoid a confrontation on the jurisdictional issue. The 

 views of the two Governments were thoroughly aired and further talks 

 on the subject held early in 1972 produced the text of an agreement. 



The living resource and seabed assessment programs of the IDOE are 

 described in chapter VI. 



47 



