in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New 

 Jersey, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Appropriations 

 have consistently fallen below the amount re- 

 quired to meet the autliorization contained in the 

 original Act. 



Althougli the stated purposes of P.L. 88-309 

 and P.L. 89-304 are different, a number of similari- 

 ties exist in the two programs. Almost all projects 

 funded under P.L. 89-304 could have been funded 

 under P.L. 88-309; the same general administrative 

 procedures are followed in both programs; the 

 same agencies and personnel are involved at both 

 State and Federal level (except that BSFW admin- 

 isters half of the anadromous program, none of PL 

 88-309); and the same geographic area, i.e., the 

 coastal zone and streams utilized by anadromous 

 stocks, is dominant in both programs. It would 

 therefore appear possible to combine both into 

 one Federal aid program for marine and anadro- 

 mous fisheries, with, funding at the level expressed 

 in the original bills. 



B. Management and Regulation 



Management of marine fisheries, in the sense of 

 manipulating the resource to enhance or redirect 

 its beneficial contributions to mankind, is still in a 

 primitive condition. Oyster culture alone stands 

 out as a noteworthy exception. States vwth access 

 to sufficient shell resources (Maryland, Louisiana, 

 Texas, and Florida) have demonstrated consid- 

 erable success in expanding or rehabilitating their 

 oyster resources both through management of 

 public bottoms and encouragement of privately 

 managed areas. 



In other fisheries, management is carried out 

 through regulatory procedures aimed at concen- 

 trating harvest during the period of maximum 

 economic return or in rationing out the proceeds 

 among the various participants. This includes the 

 very difficult job of allocating shares to sport and 

 commercial interests. 



In many instances, States have been criticized 

 for enacting or perpetuating restrictions in the 

 name of "conservation," which serve primarily to 

 lessen the efficiency of commercial fishing opera- 

 tions within their waters. Units of gear are limited, 

 more efficient types of gear prohibited, catch and 

 size restrictions arbitrarily assigned, and fishing 

 activities restricted by time and place. Such 

 restrictions are frequently requested, or even 



demanded, by the very group whose activities they 

 restrict or by some competing group which hap- 

 pens to have the political strength at that partic- 

 ular time. 



The solution becomes not a matter of insisting 

 that the States take actions against the will of their 

 majorities, or that Federal jurisdiction be invoked 

 in all cases, but that the Nation adopt, as a matter 

 of poUcy, that all fisheries are to be managed with 

 the objective of maximizing their benefit to 

 society, that regulatory action be based upon 

 sound biological and economic data, that the 

 individual States be encouraged to adopt a similar 

 objective as a basis for their programs, and that 

 every effort be made to inform the people 

 concerned in each fishery of the effects of 

 unsound regulatory measures based on other 

 premises. 



C. Education 



It is readily apparent that few of the commer- 

 cial fishermen and others participating in the use 

 of marine fisheries resources know and utilize 

 knowledge generated through efforts of Federal 

 and State Governments, academic organizations, 

 or industrial research and development. Most 

 States have some sort of extension program, 

 ranging from distribution of a newsletter to 

 television productions and extension agents work- 

 ing in the field. Nevertheless, information is not 

 getting around. Commercial fishermen do not use 

 efficient detection and capture equipment such as 

 scanning sonar, monofilament gill nets, Scottish 

 seines, and stern trawlers whose superior perform- 

 ance has been well demonstrated, even in the 

 absence of prohibitive legislation. Sport fishermen 

 continue to engage in endless tirades against 

 segments of the commercial fishing industry, such 

 as the menhaden, thread herring, and anchovy 

 fisheries, whose actual effects upon their interests 

 are negligible in some cases and unknown in many 

 others. Restrictive legislation continues to be 

 promoted by groups of conservation-minded citi- 

 zens who understand neither the biological nor 

 economic implications of their actions. Thus the 

 new National fisheries program should contain a 

 concerted effort, in cooperation with the States, 

 to bring the results of research and development to 

 the actual users of fisheries resources, through a 



Vll-49 



