The Congress sought to estabhsh a comprehensive National policy on fish, shellfish, and wildlife 

 resources for the United States in enacting the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956.^* In so doing it required 

 the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) develop and recommend measures appropriate to assure the 

 maximum sustainable production of fish and fishery products, (2) study the economic condition of the 

 fishing industry, and make recommendations to the President and the Congress to aid in stabilizing the 

 domestic fisheries, (3) develop and recommend special promotional and informational activities to 

 stimulate consumption of fishery products, and (4) "take such steps as may be required for the 

 development, advancement, management, conservation, and protection of the fisheries resources."^' 



However, in granting authority to the Department of the Interior for the "management, conservation, 

 and protecfion of the fisheries resources," the Congress did not increase the authority of the Department 

 to regulate fisheries within State jurisdictional bounds. The authority of the Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 and the philosophy under which the Service has operated, are characterized by conducting scientific 

 research, providing financial assistance, conducting economic investigations, and by developing and 

 recommending actions. Absent express authority under a treaty, and with the exceptions of the Black 

 Bass Act^^ and the Sponge Act,^' the Service does not participate in regulation of fisheries in the 

 territorial and internal waters of the United States. 



The philosophy of Federal restraint in fisheries imposes difficulties when an attempt is made to 

 increase the Federal responsibihty for fisheries. If a transition is attempted by the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries in which resource conservation is one of several means necessary to achieve economic, legal, 

 and other social objectives, as well as its present role of insuring an optimum supply of fish, the 

 transition will be hampered by budgetary constraints, poUtical pressures, vested interests, and other 

 institutional barriers favoring traditional approaches. With such institutional barriers in mind which favor 

 the status quo, we turn to some of the present organizational inadequacies and attempt to project 

 certain needs and trends of the United States fishing industries, in order to fulfill the Congressional 

 mandate to develop a coordinated, comprehensive program for "rehabilitation of our commercial 

 fisheries." 



2. Federal-State Interaction 



The United States fisheries operate in a difficult institutional climate, both State and Federal, which 

 tends to restrict operations, and to restrict the harvesting segment of the industries from purchasing 

 materials and equipment at the lowest cost. These institutional barriers include: 



—State laws that tend, in the name of conservation, to promote inefficiency in the harvesting of fishery 

 resources by (a) restricting fishing operations, vessels, gear, and equipment, (b) creating a patchwork of 

 laws and regulations, varying from State to State, designed to give "economic" advantage to local 

 fishermen over fishermen from other States, and which tend to increase the rivalry between States 

 sharing a common fishery and decrease the likelihood of the States initiating joint management efforts, 

 and (c) failure to regulate fishing effort at levels which the resource can sustain, without affecting 

 efficiency. The institutional climate is further compUcated by the fact that the restrictions are often 

 requested or demanded by the groups whose activities they restrict or by competing groups which have 

 the political strength to influence the legislative or regulatory imposition of such restrictions. 



—Federal laws, such as the prohibition against the landing of fish in foreign hulls, or limitations of the 

 purchase of foreign fishing gear and equipment. 



^^Act of August 8, 1956, 70 Stat. 1119, as amended, 75 Stat. 788 (Oct. 4, 1961), 76 Stat. 849 (Oct. 11, 1962), 16 

 U.S.C. 742a-742k. 



^''l6U.S.C. 742f. 



^*Act of May 20, 1926, 44 Stat. 576, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 851-856. 



^^Act of August 15, 1914, 38 Stat. 692, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 781-785. 



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