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ties and policies for the development and 

 utilization of migratory marine species 

 for commercial and recreational purposes 

 in cooperation with other Federal agen- 

 cies, States, and interstate agencies. 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (BCF) should encourage interstate 

 cooperation for regiilation and conservation, 

 sponsor research on the impact of institu- 

 tional barriers inhibiting the efficient devel- 

 opment of our commercial fisheries, and 

 encourage enactment of improved State laws 

 relating to the regulation and conservation of 

 such fisheries. The Federal Government also 

 should reorient its own fisheries research and 

 survey activities in support of specific fish- 

 eries missions. 



The measures proposed above should 

 strengthen the U.S. fishing industry and im- 

 prove the fisheries programs of the various 

 States. However, the Commission anticipates 

 that these measures- alone may be inadequate 

 to meet the development and management 

 needs of certain fisheries. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (BCF) be given statutory author- 

 ity to assume regulatory jurisdiction of 

 endangered fisheries when it can be dem- 

 onstrated that: 



• A particular stock of marine or ana- 

 dromous fish migrates between the wa- 

 ters of one State and those of another, 

 or between territorial waters and the 

 contiguous zone or high seas, and 



• The catch enters into interstate or 

 international commerce, and 



• Sound biological evidence demonstrates 

 that the stock has been significantly re- 

 duced or endangered by acts of man, 

 and 



• The State or States within whose waters 

 these conditions exist have not taken 

 effective remedial action. 



Vessel Subsidy Program 



Although the U.S. fishing fleet is the 

 world's second largest, about 60 per cent of 

 the vessels are over 16 years old and 27 per 

 cent have been in service over 26 years. Some 

 fisheries, like tuna, shrimp, and Alaska king 

 crab, have fairly modern fleets, but advances 

 in fishing technology during the past few 

 decades have made most of the U.S. fleet 

 economically, if not physically, obsolete. 



Important obstacles to building a modern 

 U.S. fishing fleet arer existing laws on regis- 

 tration of fishing vessels and on the landing 

 of fish in U.S. ports. Under one of these laws, 

 U.S. fishermen are unable to register foreign- 

 built fishing vessels; another prohibits the 

 landing of fish in U.S. ports directly from 

 fishing grounds unless landed in U.S. -regis- 

 tered vessels. In combination these laws 

 effectively prevent our fishermen from taking 

 advantage of lower foreign shipyard costs. 



Rather than remove the vessel registration 

 limitation, Congress enacted a vessel con- 

 struction subsidy act. But the subsidy has not 

 achieved its objectives. A provision requiring 

 a finding that the grant of subsidy not cause 

 economic hardsliip to othere in the fishery has 

 resulted in denial of subsidy to those parts of 

 the industry most in need of aid to modernize 

 their fleets. Because there is no provision for 

 retiring obsolete vessels, the program has op- 

 erated in other cases simply to add to the 

 problems of fisheries already heavily over- 

 burdened by excess capacity. Statutory limi- 

 tations on annual expenditures prevent 

 approval of all qualified applications, and the 

 subsidy generates new inequities as it corrects 

 old ones. 



