incentive to build vessels properly equipped to 

 exploit under-utilized or latent resources. Many, if 

 not most, of the fisheries of the United States are 

 sufficiently seasonal in character as to require 

 multipurpose vessels and gear for profitable opera- 

 tion. Thus, efficiency-reducing regulations affect- 

 ing one or more types of operation may make it 

 virtually impossible to develop combined opera- 

 tions that would make greater use of under- 

 exploited stocks. 



The seriousness of the coirunon property prob- 

 lem and of the mass of restrictive legislation that 

 has developed under State jurisdiction cannot be 

 overemphasized. As long as the situation prevails, 

 it is difficult to justify private. State, or Federal 

 expenditures on improvement in gear or vessel 

 efficiency. If such improvements are actually 

 incorporated in operating units, the effect will be 

 only temporary; improved profits will attract new 

 units into the fishery, and the end result will be a 

 restoration of the original earnings position with 

 more excess capacity. It is more likely that any 

 really important improvement would be legislated 

 out of existence even before it could be adopted. 

 The effectiveness of the reconmiendations for a 

 major expansion of gear development and tech- 

 nology within the BCF is therefore dependent 

 upon progress in removing these institutional 

 impediments to progress. 



The panel's concern over the debilitating effect 

 of unwise management practices by both State and 

 Federal agencies should not obscure the fact that 

 many management techniques and programs have 

 been distinctly beneficial. Regulations forbidding 

 the use of destructive fishing gear or techniques, 

 selective time and area closures that concentrate 

 harvesting at times when the fish are found to be 

 most plentiful and concentrated, and selectivity 

 regulations that limit the catch of immature fish 

 before they have achieved worthwhile growth are 

 examples of such measures. 



The panel therefore recommends, as an essen- 

 tial first step in cutting through the maze of 

 uimecessary legislative restrictions, a series of 

 careful studies of the objectives, operation, and 

 biological and economic effects of specific regula- 

 tory programs in specific areas. While there are 

 many obvious candidates for discard, there are also 

 a large number of soundly conceived management 

 programs that should be preserved or expanded in 

 any revised approach. 



Concurrently with such studies, the initial steps 

 should be taken to prepare for a framework of 

 management for both domestic and international 

 fisheries in which National objectives are clearly 

 specified as a paramount guide to poUcy. 



The panel emphasizes that the overall effect of 

 such pressure on the individual States to set their 

 houses in order with respect to fishery manage- 

 ment concepts and practices is not to be construed 

 as a burden; parallel reductions of this type of 

 restrictive legislation will provide an impetus to 

 fishery development in the United States as a 

 whole that must benefit all of the marine states 

 and those bordering on the Great Lakes. 



4. Technological Development of U.S. Fisheries 



As indicated in the discussion of the BCF and 

 its program, the panel feels that opportunities for 

 improvement of U.S. fisheries' operations through 

 gear development and associated ocean engineering 

 have not been adequately recognized. Accordingly, 

 it recommends formulation of a much more 

 substantial program with these elements: improve- 

 ment of conventional gear and adaptation to U.S. 

 fisheries of technical developments originating 

 elsewhere; research and development in the design 

 and testing of new harvesting concepts that will 

 make use of a growing national capacity to bring 

 latent resources into use; development of a fishery 

 inteUigence service (and equipping of U.S. vessels 

 with necessary communication equipment) that 

 will permit integration of oceanographic and 

 meteorological parameters with the deployment of 

 fishing vessels; and establishment of effective Unes 

 of communication with industry through some 

 form of extension service that will translate 

 experimental work into practical fisheries opera- 

 tions. 



The improvement of conventional fishing gear 

 and the adaptation to local conditions of new 

 equipment developed in the countries offer sur- 

 prisingly wide opportunities for cost reduction in 

 U.S. fisheries. A number of representative ex- 

 amples can be drawn from the limited activities of 

 BCF. The design and construction of a large 

 midwater trawl, coupled to a simple but highly 

 effective electronic sensing device, provided the 

 first step for a potentially large new hake fish- 

 ery. Development of a fast sinking purse seine 



VII-56 



