for valuable predator species. Thus far, lake trout 

 appear to be well on the way toward reestablish- 

 ment; steelhead are doing well in some areas; and 

 experimental plants of coho salmon in Lake 

 Michigan offer exciting prospects for a major new 

 sport fishery and some commercial harvest. 



Though much work remains to be done, Fed- 

 eral and State fishery researchers have made 

 progress in defining the management problems 

 that must be resolved before something approach- 

 ing the most desirable balance of species and 

 harvesting can be achieved. This is not simply a 

 matter of "restoring" the Great Lakes fisheries; as 

 indicated above, biological relations in the lakes 

 have been so unstable in the past as to suggest the 

 need for conscious selection of species and meth- 

 ods of harvest, with management and research 

 programs geared to the technical requirements 

 established by these choices. Nor could we expect 

 the choices, once made, to remain unchanged for 

 all time. The Great Lakes still offer opportunities 

 (or perhaps need is a better term) for experimenta- 

 tion in producing outputs of greater benefit to 

 mankind. 



It is ironic that one of the major problems 

 facing the marine fisheries is of far smaller 

 dimensions in the Great Lakes because of the 

 economic disasters of the past two decades. The 

 commercial fishery, never particularly noted for 

 technological progressiveness, was so battered by 

 these developments that it has dwindled down to a 

 very few men and vessels. Consequently, it will be 

 possible to reestablish commercial fishing with due 

 recognition of the need for balancing commercial 

 and sports effort and with controls that limit the 

 number of operating units. Given this approach to 

 management of the commercial fisheries, it should 

 be possible to permit the use of more efficient gear 

 than the traditional gill net, pound net, and trap 

 net, and thus to realize significantly lower oper- 

 ating costs than prevailed in the past. It must be 

 recognized, however, that total potential from the 

 Great Lakes is not large, in tonnage or value, and 

 in terms of priorities the region offers less prom- 

 ising prospects than many marine fisheries. 



Finally, the Great Lakes fisheries can only 

 benefit from an aroused public demand for a 

 national effort to control existing sources of 

 pollution and to look beyond the present to future 

 waste disposal programs that will permit eventual 

 rehabilitation of most Great Lakes waters. 



The need for a regional fishery management 

 effort is just as clear in the Great Lakes as in the 

 marine fisheries. Eight States, the Province of 

 Ontario, and the Federal Governments of Canada 

 and the United States are involved. A considerable 

 amount of progress has been made in developing a 

 unified approach, including the vitally important 

 step of standardizing statistical procedures. Never- 

 theless, the need for full regionalization of the 

 Great Lakes fisheries program is evident. There are 

 a number of major policy problems that must be 

 resolved as the rebuilding process gains momen- 

 tum: for example, the allocation of fish between 

 sport and commercial usage; techniques for con- 

 trolling commercial fishing effort; the proper mix 

 of species to be encouraged; and the presentation 

 of a strong fishery case for effective water quality 

 management. The recommendations for reorgani- 

 zation to insure action in the National interest for 

 marine fisheries are equally applicable to those of 

 the Great Lakes. 



V. SPORT FISHING 



A. Relation to Overall Fishery Development 



Recreational fishing has become a major indus- 

 try in the United States and a large part of the 

 total sport fishing activity involves marine or 

 estuarine species. As one of a variety of recrea- 

 tional usages of the marine environment, sport 

 fishing is an important element in the Com- 

 mission's proposals for an expanded research and 

 management effort in that area. In this section we 

 are concerned only with its impact on living 

 resources and on the present and future areas of 

 conflict with commercial users of fish. 



It may clarify the following discussion to point 

 out that the "output" of a sport fishery is not fish 

 but fishing. The satisfaction is derived from the 

 activity, and the proper unit of measurement of 

 output is not pounds or numbers of fish but 

 numbers of fishing days. Obviously, the number of 

 fishing days and the intensity of the pleasure 

 derived from them are not independent of the 

 number of fish taken or of the eating qualities of 

 the catch. The relationship, however, is indirect 

 and sometimes surprisingly -loose. For example, 

 there is tremendous interest in sport fishing for 

 tarpon and bonefish, neither of which is normally 

 regarded as edible, and there is an intensive sport 



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