off the coast of North Carolina, a marine sanctuary was to assure that 

 the Monitor will be protected from souvenir hunters and that research 

 activity at the site will be conducted in a manner that will not disturb the 

 wreck. Two estuarine sanctuaries have also been designated by DOC — 

 one in Oregon and the other in Georgia. Under the Estuarine Sanctuary 

 Program authorized by the Coastal Zone Management Act, funds have 

 been allotted for the purpose of preserving these estuarine areas in their 

 natural state for ecological research and to provide information useful in 

 coastal zone management. 



The activities described above are supplemented by a variety of other 

 efforts that contribute to the management of the coastal zone. Two of 

 these efforts, one concerned with the social and economic aspects of 

 marine coastal programs and the other dealing with pollution abate- 

 ment, are described in chapters 3 and 4, respectively. 



Fishery Resources 



The past year has been characterized by intensified planning for the 

 management of ocean fisheries in waters beyond the immediate coastal 

 zone. The 1974 and 1975 sessions of the Law of the Sea Conference 

 revealed an international consensus in favor of the establishment of 200- 

 mile ocean zones, in which coastal nations would have jurisdiction over 

 resources. Failure to reach agreement on a Law of the Sea regime in 1975 

 (see Chapter II), combined with the unilateral extension of jurisdiction 

 over fishing zones by a number of nations and the growing competition 

 to the U.S. fishing industry presented by foreign fishing fleets operating 

 in offshore waters, led the Congress to initiate hearings on the extension 

 of U.S. jurisdiction for fishing purposes beyond the limits of the twelve- 

 mile conservation zone. This Congressional activity resulted in the 

 passage of the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 

 (FMCA), signed into law on April 13 as Public Law 94-265. 



The FMCA establishes U.S. jurisdiction, effective March 1, 1977, over 

 a fishery conservation zone extending 200 miles from our shores. 

 Authority for the management of fisheries and all over forms of marine 

 animal and plant life, including migratory fish species, in the 197 miles 

 beyond the territorial sea is vested in the federal government under the 

 Act. Moreover, the Act asserts exclusive U.S. jurisdiction over 

 anadromous species of fish, such as salmon, spawning in U.S. rivers or 

 estuaries. Jurisdiction over those species is to apply in all ocean waters 

 with the exception of the recognized territorial seas or fishery conserva- 

 tion zones of other nations. 



The FCMA, however, goes considerably beyond the establishment of 

 new jurisdiction over fishery resources; it contains explicit provisions 

 for the formulation of an innovative fishery management regime to be 

 applied in the extended fishery resource zone. The Act requires that 



