and execute the field programs undertaken by the 

 various divisions and branches within the Bureau. 



In a strict administrative sense, all of the 

 explorations conducted by BCF are lodged under 

 the Division of Industrial Research, Branch of 

 Exploratory Fishing. Development vi'ork, however, 

 extends over several divisions, with major work 

 undertaken by the Division of Resource Develop- 

 ment. It is almost impossible to attribute responsi- 

 bility for development work to any major division 

 or branch because fisheries development work 

 includes a single wide spectrum of activities. 

 Functionally, almost all of the Bureau divisions, 

 with the possible exception of administration, are 

 at times involved in fisheries development activi- 

 ties, though the level is very small for most. 

 Similarly, the responsibility for those activities 

 which involve acquisition of information for the 

 regulation and management of fisheries and the 

 actual management of aquatic resources under- 

 taken by the Bureau are vested in several divisions 

 and numerous branches. 



The administrative organization of the Bureau 

 is therefore not the best framework in which to 

 consider Federal activities involving exploration, 

 development, and regulation of fisheries. It is more 

 useful to examine these activities in terms of work 

 blocks in a functional sense. 



The major ocean activities in which the Bureau 

 is involved, characterized by work objective, fall 

 into four broad areas: resource assessment; extrac- 

 tion and use; environmental control and improve- 

 ment; and management of aquatic living resources. 



The resource assessment activities of the Bureau 

 are generally undertaken by the Branch of Explor- 

 atory Fishing and various branches of the Division 

 of Biological Research. The work includes the 

 assessment of latent ocean resources and monito- 

 ring of those important commercial resources in or 

 adjacent to our coasts under exploitation by 

 United States and foreign fishermen. 



Programs related to extraction and use of 

 aquatic resources may be divided into those 

 directed toward improving harvest and those 

 geared to improved use (such as improving quality, 

 reducing processing costs, and developing new 

 products). The Branch of Exploratory Fishing is 

 assigned the responsibility for increasing the effi- 

 ciency of the extractive phase of fishing. 



Environmental control and improvement relates 

 to those activities designed to monitor the environ- 



ment and gauge the influence of changing environ- 

 ment on aquatic resources. It also involves a 

 variety of activities directed toward maintaining or 

 improving the natural envirorunent of fishes. 



Management functions include not only the 

 regulation of fisheries, but also acquisition of the 

 scientific information on which to make manage- 

 ment decisions and to deal with international 

 conflicts. They also include Federal efforts to 

 reduce current institutional barriers confronting 

 effective development of a viable U.S. fishing 

 industry. 



B. Federal Exploration Efforts 



As previously noted, the work of the BCF 

 directed toward exploration is largely the responsi- 

 bility of the Branch of Exploratory Fishing. This 

 branch also has responsibility for gear develop- 

 ment designed to improve harvesting systems. 



Despite its key role in discharging the Bureau's 

 responsibihty, a relatively small part of the BCF 

 budget has been devoted to exploration and gear 

 development. The budget of the Branch of Explor- 

 atory Fishing through the first half of this decade 

 ranged from $900,000 to $1.4 miUion. In the past 

 several years it has been increased, and in 1967, 

 $2.3 milhon was spent for this purpose. It should 

 be noted, however, that the $2.3 million is divided 

 between two basic objectives of the Branch of 

 Exploratory Fishing: resource assessment and gear 

 research. The greater share of this funding, perhaps 

 as much as 70 per cent, has historically been 

 devoted to exploration. Thus, the direct Bureau 

 funding for exploration in the past five years is 

 probably on the order of $600,000 to $1.5 

 million annually, and less than half that amount 

 has been devoted to gear development. Again, 

 however, because of the rather diverse branch 

 functions, at least some of the activities under- 

 taken by the Division of Biology, Branch of 

 Marine Fisheries, have included exploratory efforts 

 which have contributed to the knowledge of latent 

 ocean resources. Actual budget figures for explora- 

 tory work are therefore somewhat higher than 

 those specifically earmarked for that purpose, 

 perhaps by as much as 50 per cent. 



In addition to BCF's work, certain funds are 

 allocated by the National Science Foundation for 

 exploration of aquatic ocean resources, such as 

 those provided for studies in the International 



VII-40 



