probably not exceed 150 milUon pounds. Pelagic 

 fishes, on the other hand are abundant in the 

 offshore waters. Ahlstrom (1968) indicates an 

 anchovy population in these waters in the order of 

 4 to 5 million tons, from 1 .4 to 2.4 milhon tons of 

 jack mackerel, and 2 to 4 milUon tons of hake. In 

 addition he feels that there are large stocks of 

 saury in the offshore waters and forecasts a 

 standing stock of at least 450,000 tons of this 

 species. California waters also abound in squids 

 and other small pelagic species. The extent of clam 

 populations is not well documented. There are fair 

 quantities of Dungeness crabs in the shallow 

 waters inside 50 fathoms off Cahfornia, but these 

 populations are probably being harvested at their 

 maximum level at the present time. Current 

 catches of the major species of fish and shellfish 

 taken off California are given in Table 14. United 

 States fishermen received $50 milHon in both 

 1964 and 1965; about $35 million each year 

 represented values for non-shelf species (tuna and 

 tuna-Uke fishes). 



e. Hawaii The potential of demersal fishes in the 

 Hawaiian Island area is now being investigated. In 

 recent years there has been increasing interest in 

 the possibilities of harvesting penaeid shrimps 

 from these waters. There are no data available on 

 which to quantify these potentials at the present 

 time. Large stocks of pelagic fish, particularly 

 tuna, do occur in waters adjacent to the Islands, 

 but most of these inhabit waters well beyond the 

 outer limits of the Continental Shelf. In 

 1964-1965, for example, about 80 per cent of 

 landings in Hawaii consisted of tuna, and these 

 species accounted for about $2 million of the total 

 landed value of $2.8 million in 1964 and $2.7 

 milhon of the 1965 total of $3.6 miUion. 



f. Overall Production Potential Total United 

 States fish and shellfish production in recent years 

 has fluctuated between four and five billion 

 pounds with an annual ex-vessel value of about 

 $420 milhon. It is apparent from the works of 

 Graham (1968), Ketchen (1968), and Edwards 

 (1968) that considerable quantities of fish are 

 harvested on the Continental Shelf adjacent to the 

 United States by foreign fishermen. When this 

 production is also considered, the total yields from 

 over the Continental Shelf adjacent to the United 



States probably approach 10 bilUon pounds with 

 an estimated value in the order of $605 million. 

 While it is not certain that United States fishermen 

 will ultimately capture any great share of the 

 production now being taken by foreign fishermen, 

 it must be considered in evaluating the resources 

 currently extracted from the shelf areas of the 

 United States. 



It would appear from the work of the various 

 authors noted above that the ultimate potential of 

 fisheries resources overlying the Continental Shelf 

 off the United States is in the order of 50 billion 

 pounds or roughly 10 times present United States 

 production. Much of this would be very low 

 valued, however, and much of it cannot be 

 harvested profitably using present fishing tech- 

 jiiques and conventional end products. 



3. The Great Lakes Fisheries 



These fisheries are discussed separately, since 

 they are operated in an environment entirely 

 different than that of the sea. Though they have 

 never approached the major sea fisheries in ton- 

 nage, they were, for a long period of time, 

 dominated by relatively high valued species, and 

 the resulting economic contribution was by no 

 means negligible. In addition, the Great Lakes 

 offer an important and in some respects unique set 

 of recreational opportunities, including sport fish- 

 ing, to the tremendous population within easy 

 driving distance (perhaps 25 per cent of the entire 

 population of the United States). The management 

 of the Uving resources of the Great Lakes is 

 therefore a matter of national concern. 



a. Present State of the Fisheries The sad state of 

 the American commercial fisheries of the Great 

 Lakes stands out clearly in the figures of Tables 

 15-18. During the early flush days of the Great 

 Lakes fisheries, from 1897-1908, U.S. landings 

 averaged 102.3 miUion pounds. By the 1914-1928 

 period, U.S. landings had dropped to 85.3 million, 

 and from 1929-1963 they averaged only 75.9 

 million. The total U.S. catch in 1963 was the 

 lowest on record— 55.8 miUion pounds— and the 

 subsequent sharp increase in 1966 and 1967 

 resulted only from a very large increase in the 

 harvest of alewives (an extremely low-valued 

 species). Total landings have held up much better, 

 of course, since Canadian catches have increased. 



VII-26 



