terests of fishermen who had previously fished for spiny lobster in the 

 area and to negotiate resonable arrangements regarding U.S.-flag vessels 

 to that end. In this connection, the United States has suggested to the 

 Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas that the issue be 

 submitted without delay to the International Court of justice. 



The International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries 

 (ICNAF) made significant advances in international, cooperative fish- 

 eries regulation during 1975. The year also saw the beginning of a series 

 of events that could lead to the termination of the commission's 

 regulatory functions by the end of 1976. The years 1975 and early 1976 

 were characterized by increasing indications that the two largest nations 

 in the ICNAF area — Canada and the United States — will unilaterally im- 

 plement 200-mile fisheries conservation zones early in 1977. 



At the annual meeting in June 1975, decisions on 1976 quota alloca- 

 tions for nine stocks of fish off the Canadian coast were deferred 

 because of lack of agreement, until a special meeting in September, and 

 the allocations for herring and squid off the U.S. coast were contentious 

 items not resolved to the full satisfaction of the United States. At the 

 September meeting in Montreal, Canada. ICNAF agreed to a Canadian 

 proposal for an approximately 40-percent reduction in the fishing effort 

 for 1976 in the area off the Canadian coast, as well as to several other 

 allocation and conservation issues of importance to the United States, 

 although the allocation for herring was again deferred. A U.S. proposal 

 for more effective enforcement through a system of vessel registration 

 was approved, and ICNAF agreed to a major prohibition on the use of 

 bottom-trawling gear on Georges Bank by vessels over 155 feet in length. 



The long-sought ban on all high-seas fishing for salmon within the 

 ICNAF region became fully effective on January 1, 1976, providing the 

 most effective regulation ever of that important fishery resource. Fish- 

 ing for salmon is now limited to the countries of origin and a small con- 

 trolled fishery by natives along the Greenland coast. 



At the January 1976 special meeting, ICNAF adopted significant size 

 limit regulations on herring and mackerel and set herring allocations for 

 the first half of 1976, deferring until the June annual meeting the deci- 

 sion on allocations for the second half of the year. 



Substantial improvements were made in catch reporting by member 

 governments, under a more rigorous monthly reporting system, and sig- 

 nificant scientific research on fish stocks in the area was carried out ac- 

 cording to planned programs. The research is extensively reported in IC- 

 NAF publications. 



The intensity of foreign fishing in the North Pacific continued at a 

 high level in 1975. Despite the imposition of lower catch quotas negoti- 

 ated with some foreign countries by the United States, many stocks con- 

 tinued to decline. The resource problems have been compounded by the 



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