98 



The Commission recommends that legis- 

 lation be enacted to remove the present 

 legal restrictions on the use of foreign- 

 built vessels by U.S. fishermen in the U.S. 

 domestic fisheries. 



If the recommended action is not taken, the 

 vessel construction subsidy program should 

 be expanded and used to modernize segments 

 of the U.S. fisheries that could then compete 

 effectively with foreign producers. TMs 

 would require, however, modification of the 

 present program as outlined in detail in the 

 Report of the Panel on Marine Resources. 



Research and Technical Programs 



Tlie Bureau of Commercial Fisheries his- 

 torically has placed greater emphasis upon 

 biological research than on exploratory fish- 

 ing and gear development. The Bureau 

 spends nearly $20 million annually on gen- 

 eral life histories, on investigations of the en- 

 vironment, on effect of environment on the 

 availability and distribution of resources, and 

 on management theory. By comparison, be- 

 tween $600,000 and $1.5 million has been 

 spent annually on exploration, and less than 

 half of that amount has been devoted to gear 

 development. These funds, furthermore, have 

 been so committed to continuing, geographi- 

 cally dispersed projects that the Bureau's 

 ability to mount new programs has been re- 

 stricted severely. Consequently, it has not 

 been able to provide industry with the as- 

 sistance necessary to keep pace with the rapid 

 strides in fishing efficiency so evident in other 

 major fishing nations. 



It is essential that the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Agency (BCF) concentrate 

 its efforts on areas and species which offer 

 the greatest opportunities for successful eco- 

 nomic expansion. These might include mid- 

 Pacific tuna, demersal and other fish and 

 shellfish resources in the Gulf of Alaska, an- 



chovy off the southern California coast, 

 clupeids in the Gulf of Mexico, alewives (and 

 their predatoi-s) in the Great Lakes, and 

 Pacific hake. Development in these high- 

 potential fisheries can be profitably pursued 

 along well-defined lines : 



• Surveys and exploratoiy fishing programs 

 to establish the potential of latent stocks 



• Basic biological studies to provide a basis 

 for yield assessment 



• Development of new harvesting techniques 

 and strategies 



• Development of more efficient methods for 

 processing and handling fish products, in- 

 cluding quality control and increasingly 

 diversified product utilization. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (BCF) analyze each major fishery 

 and develop integrated programs designed 

 to exploit those fisheries where opportuni- 

 ties for expansion exist. 



Research and Surveys Despite a substan- 

 tial effort extending over many years, knowl- 

 edge of the stocks available off U.S. coasts 

 and of the factors determining their yield is 

 far from adequate, particularly for relatively 

 low-valued species. A key need in developing 

 new fisheries is for an exploratory effort to 

 establish the dimension of the resources which 

 U.S. fishermen can reasonably expect to 

 harvest profitably. 



Such an expanded survey program must be 

 Government suppoi-ted. No single fishing en- 

 terprise or group of fishing enterprises could 

 afford to undertake this work because of the 

 high cost of the operations required and be- 

 cause they could not expect to capture more 

 than a small proportion of the economic 

 benefits generated. 



