coastal nations (but what do we do while we wait for agreement?) ; pro- 

 vide loans (but do those who least need it benefit the most?) ; discourage 

 the marginal operators who reduce the catch per unit effort for every- 

 body without helping themselves very much (but what do you tell them 

 to do instead?). 



NACOA suggests that a way to override the difficulties of industry seg- 

 mentation and of diverse local goals is to approach the question of a 

 national fisheries goal directly and derive from it a comprehensive, con- 

 sistent national planning basis for fisheries operations. 



AN APPROACH TO NATIONAL FISHERY PLANNING 



NACOA proposes a target for an increase in the share of fish supplied 

 to the domestic market by domestic fishermen. U.S. food fish consumption 

 is now 6 billion pounds a year of which the domestic catch supplies about 

 40 percent. Per capita consumption of this edible fish has remained con- 

 stant for at least 30 years. (Consumption of fish for industrial use varies 

 because it competes in the animal-feed market with other sources of pro- 

 tein. ) Confining ourselves to edible fish and assuming per capita consump- 

 tion will not change by 1980, we will then consume about 7 billion 

 pounds of fish. A target of 3.5 billion pounds for domestic producers (in- 

 creasing from 2.5 billion pounds in 1970) would increase our catch volume 

 by 40 percent and reduce our dependence on imports for edible fish from 

 60 percent to 50 percent. This amplification would occur because the 

 market is growing. What we propose is to supply the market increase and 

 simultaneously move up to a larger share for domestic producers. A similar 

 goal could be set for industrial fishery products. 



We believe the implementing plan to achieve this goal can be developed 

 in the following manner. 



1. Determine present productivity of fishing areas of interest to the 

 United States (including all inland fisheries). This assimies con- 

 tinued improvement in catch or production statistics. 



2. Determine what the productivity of these areas, populations, or 

 species could be in 10 years if a program of ideal conservation were 

 adopted. 



3. Determine which of the above programs should be adopted and 

 implemented and to what degree. 



4. Enumerate the steps that would be required and identify the agen- 

 cies that would be concerned, e.g.. Department of State on the mat- 

 ter of preferential access to coastal fish populations; Department of 

 Commerce on internal maricultural efforts, etc. 



5. Estimate how much additional fish and related products would be 

 available to the consuming public as a result of this effort. 



6. Relate this to domestic market requirements in 10 years and set 

 feasible goals, programs, and time schedules to supply this need. 



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