There has been a tendency to regard the decline of the world position 

 of commercial fishing in the United States as a problem of international 

 competition in which an unsubsidized, artisan-like, entrepreneurial, labor- 

 intensive American industry has suffered the effects of competition with 

 technologically-advanced, government-supported foreign fishing fleets. And 

 in fact, the proportion of fish products imported into this country hit a 

 peak, in 1968, of over 70 percent of the fish products used, though the 

 average, 55 to 60 percent, is somewhat less.* 



But these facts, serious as they are, divert attention from the more basic 

 condition, masked by the rise in the total world catch, that fish resources 

 are limited, that the potential exists in the world to destroy these resources, 

 and that if our fisheries are not in fatal trouble now, they are going to be 

 unless something is done about conserving the resource. The shrinking 

 share by U.S. commercial fishermen of the growing catch has elicited 

 suggestions for Government support to meet foreign competition, but this 

 is a digression from the more fundamental problem, the threat to the re- 

 source itself. What purpose would any plan for rehabilitating the U.S. 

 fishing industry serve if the fish themselves were gone? 



ENVIRONMENT FOR REDEVELOPMENT 



Adjusting to an approach which is resource-oriented rather than eco- 

 nomics-oriented was the nub of many of the Stratton Commission recom- 

 mendations; and it is the basis for existing fisheries policies which cen- 

 ter on : 



• obtaining the information on which proper resource management de- 

 pends, 



• minimizing institutional constraints such as Federal/State coastal 

 jurisdiction problems, and 



• adjusting conflicts in interest between sports and commercial fisher- 

 men, etc. 



The Stratton Commission recommendations also touched on legislative, 

 economic, and international issues, such as : 



• the desirability of rescinding the requirement that a fishing vessel 

 be American-made, 



• the desirability of removing those types of control which impose in- 

 efficiency as an inhibitor to over-fishing, and 



• the desirability of limiting entry to counter the inherent tendency of 

 producers to overcapitalize when the price of entry is low. 



Some of these recommendations have been translated into policy, others 

 into official recognition as worthy bases for action. All remain valid today 



* The U.S. catch, about two and a half million tons per year, has been relatively 

 constant for 25 years, while the world catch has more than doubled in each of 

 the last three decades. About half the U.S. catch is edible fish. 



13 



