II. FISHERIES 



Legislative activities related to fisheries with which the NOPS will 

 conduct during the 94th Congress, particularly the first session, in- 

 clude the following : 



— Reconsideration of the 200-mile emergency marine fisheries legis- 

 lation ; 



— Examination of the need for Federal-State management of marine 

 fisheries and marine fishing industries ; 



— Review of and hearings on the National Fisheries Plan ; and 



— Hearings to consider a national program in aquaculture. 



These possible Committee activities are discussed in detail below: 



1. RECONSIDERATION OF EMERGENCY MARINE FISHERIES PROTECTION 



LEGISLATION 



The Commerce Committee held 15 days of hearings on the Emer- 

 gency Marine Fisheries Protection Act of 1974 (S. 1988) during the 

 93d Congress. Following referral and consideration by the Senate 

 Committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services, the Senate 

 passed the bill on December 11, 1974. The following day the bill was 

 referred to the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 but no House action was taken before the 93d Congress adjourned 

 sine die. 



Emergency marine fisheries legislation has been reintroduced early 

 in the 94th Congress. Consequently, the Committee, early in the first 

 session, will evaluate the need for further hearings on the subject in 

 terms of the likely outcome of the 1975 Geneva Law of the Sea Con- 

 ference and the actual status of the U.S. marine fisheries industry by 

 midyear 1975. The NOPS staff will prepare studies on specific aspects 

 of fisheries management and a 200-mile fishery management zone. For 

 example, before June 1975 (the approximate completion of the 

 Geneva session of the U.N. Law of the Sea Conference) the staff will 

 examine how both U.S. domestic and distant-water marine fisheries 

 are being affected by foreign fishing and how the existing situation 

 might change either through (1) the unilateral assertion of U.S. fish- 

 ery management jurisdiction over fish within a 200 nautical mile zone 

 or (2) the outcome of the 1975 Geneva Conference on the Law of the 

 Sea. 



2. EXAMINATION OF MARINE FISHERIES AND MARINE FISHING INDUSTRIES 



NOPS will examine several other aspects of marine fisheries and 

 marine fishing industries during the 94th Congress, including the eco- 

 nomic climate of the fishing industry and management in the contig- 

 uous fishery zone. The staff plans to seek the assistance of the National 

 Academy of Sciences in conducting an analysis of this subject. 



The CRS will be asked to conduct economic analyses of specific fish- 

 ing industries and examine how those fishing industries which are in 



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