costs of labor and capital and U.S. market prefer- 

 ences. 



The panel therefore endorses the following 

 statement of National objectives drafted by the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; 



To increase the net contribution of aquatic living 

 commercial resources to the Nation 's economy; to 

 increase efficiency, so that the economic status of 

 those engaged in the fishing industry is improved; 

 to provide for the growing and diversified demands 

 of the American people for fish and shellfish 

 products, whether in the form of edible foods or 

 other products, from efficient and economical 

 sources; to seek means of bringing more of the 

 world's aquatic resources into economic, commer- 

 cial, production for the benefit of all mankind; 

 and to contribute to man's understanding and 

 control of aquatic living resources and their 

 environment. 



B. Elements of a Positive Program 

 1. Exploration 



Rehabilitation of the U.S. fisheries must start 

 with a sharper definition of the target. Commercial 

 fishing is, at best, a highly uncertain venture; the 

 risks become impossibly high in the absence of 

 reasonably accurate information on the location, 

 spatial and temporal distribution, and long run 

 sustained yield capability of the resource con- 

 cerned. Such information is particularly essential 

 in the case of low valued fish that must be taken in 

 quantity and fairly continuously for profitable 

 operation. The first objective of an expanded 

 exploratory effort must be to estabUsh the dimen- 

 sions of the resources which U.S. fishermen can 

 reasonably expect to harvest profitably, and to 

 provide a basis for reasonable investment decisions 

 as to the type and quantity of fishing gear that 

 should be used to harvest the resource on a 

 continuing basis. 



There will be other substantial benefits. The 

 ratio of actual fishing time to time away from port 

 is a critical element in the profitability of any 

 fishing enterprise. A program aimed at providing 

 the type of information described above for major 

 stocks in U.S. coastal waters could be expected to 

 reduce non-productive search and running time by 

 as much as 10 to 15 per cent. 



Perhaps the greatest benefit to be realized 

 from a thorough delineation of the potential yield 

 of fish and shellfish from waters available to U.S. 

 fishermen is the ability to manage the resources on 

 a rational basis. Fisheries of the United States, 

 and, indeed, of most of the world, have shovm a 

 depressing tendency toward overexpansion, fol- 

 lowed by a subsequent dechne in landings and a 

 long period of overcapacity and depressed earnings 

 for the fishery concerned. Both the economic 

 waste and the need for long and costly rehabiUta- 

 tion programs can be prevented by adequate 

 forecasts, even of a fairly rough nature, of the 

 quantities that can be taken on a sustained basis. 

 Modern evaluation techniques make possible such 

 assessments in the course of the exploratory 

 fishing required to "place" the resource. 



Finally, the present degree of overcapacity in 

 both fishing and processing facilities in some of 

 our important fisheries makes it particularly im- 

 portant to shift pressure to under-utilized re- 

 sources that can be harvested and processed with 

 the same equipment. Thus, the increasingly precar- 

 ious position of the menhaden industry makes it 

 highly desirable to develop alternate sources of 

 supply from such species as thread herring and 

 anchovies. Similarly, the distinct possibility that 

 overcapacity already exists in the Alaska king crab 

 fishery makes it imperative to develop as rapidly as 

 possible the capacity to utilize tanner crabs, 

 shrimp, and scallops in the Gulf of Alaska in order 

 to provide a more diversified base. 



The speed with which the major and secondary 

 resources of the U.S. continental shelves can be 

 covered systematically depends, of course, on 

 funding, personnel, and ship time available. On the 

 assumption that some ordering of priorities will be 

 necessary because of constraints in both funds and 

 personnel, the following suggestions for major 

 initiatives are offered. 



Shrimp, farmer crab, and scallops in the Gulf of 

 Alaska— all high valued species with immediate 

 markets and well developed technology— are logical 

 candidates. Surface and midwater species such as 

 thread herring, anchovies, and sea herring along 

 the Mid- and South Atlantic coasts and the Gulf of 

 Mexico provide inputs for the booming fishmeal 

 market to supplement menhaden landings. Explor- 

 atory work also is required to develop the fuU 

 potential for groundfish and shellfish in the Gulf 

 of Mexico and Mid- and South Atlantic Coastal 



VlI-53 



