undertake assessment programs of the magnitude required for 

 management. 



The nature of the problems and the proposed solutions, involving 

 common property resources over broad areas with international 

 interests, requires that the Federal Government take the lead. 

 Industry, State governments, and universities can contribute 

 significantly to solutions, but the program must be organized on a 

 national scale. The assessment responsibility is part of the mission 

 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

 although the National Science Foundation also supports programs 

 contributing to living resource assessment. 



MARMAP 



In 1971 NOAA initiated the Marine Resources Monitoring, 

 Assessment, and Prediction Program (MARMAP) as the principal 

 resource assessment activity within NMFS. MARMAP uses 

 traditional methods of analysis of fishery catch data and systematic, 

 standardized surveys of young and adult populations to define the 

 kinds and abundance of living marine resources available to U.S. 

 recreational and commercial fishermen. 



The resulting data are used to develop management 

 recommendations for expansion of fisheries and improvement of the 

 status of the resources. The utility of this approach is illustrated by 

 the recent implementation of measures by the International 

 Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) to reduce 

 the severe overexploitation of fish stocks off New England and the 

 mid-Atlantic coast. In 1973-74 efforts to reduce the amount of 

 foreign fishing on all stocks in the area were agreed to by 17 nations 

 within the framework of ICNAF. Total landings of over 1 million 

 metric tons in 1973 will be reduced to 924,000 metric tons in 1974, to 

 850,000 metric tons in 1975, and possibly lower landings in 

 subsequent years. This was possible because of the extensive data 

 base obtained from the MARMAP prototype survey of groundfish 

 stocks and analyses of commercial catch data by the NMFS 

 Northeast Fisheries Center that clearly demonstrated a 65-percent 

 reduction in total finfish biomass on the fishing grounds during the 

 past decade. This reduction was attributable to recent heavy fishing. 



In 1973-74 coordinated and standardized fall and spring 

 MARMAP groundfish surveys were greatly expanded along the 

 Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. Simultaneous ichthyoplankton 

 samples and environmental observations were obtained on each of 

 the surveys. Comparable groundfish surveys were carried out by 

 ICNAF over most of the remaining shelf off the coast of Canada. 

 Atlantic coastal surveys included participation by several NMFS 



34 



