national catch quotas for the ICNAF area alone 

 would increase fishing pressure upon the NEAFC 

 area (which faces an even graver situation than the 

 ICNAF area) and nullify any potential economic 

 gain from national catch quotas in the ICNAF area 

 for such vessels, the quota system proposed would 

 have to embrace the cod and haddock fisheries of 

 the entire North Atlantic.** 



Since 1945, fishing intensity for the major 

 groundfish species in the North Atlantic (es- 

 pecially for cod and haddock) has increased 

 greatly, but the cod and haddock yields from each 

 of the main fishing areas have failed to increase at 

 the same rate."*' Indeed, at the high level of 

 fishing intensity reached during the period 

 1962-65, the fishing mortality rate exceeded the 

 maximum sustainable catch.'** A reduction in 

 total fishing effort of 30^0 percent in the case of 

 some stocks, and 10-20 percent in the case of 

 others, would sustain the catch over the long term 

 and perhaps even increase it.'" 



The position of the United States in the 

 fisheries in question is particularly serious. In 

 1965, after a particularly strong year-class of 

 two-year old haddock entered the fishery, the 

 United States catch increased only by about 10 

 percent to 57,000 metric tons. However, total 

 landings of haddock from subarea 5 increased by 

 123 percent to 154,700 thousand tons, due mainly 

 to heavy fishing by the Soviet fleet which took 

 81.9 thousand tons of haddock from subarea 5 in 

 1965 and 48.4 thousand tons in 1966. The rapid 

 harvesting of the 1963 year class that resulted 

 from such heavy fishing was especially unfortunate 

 because the following year-classes have been very 

 poor. The Soviet fleet shifted effort to other 

 stocks when haddock abundance declined, but the 

 United States trawler fleet, because of its limited 

 mobility, has suffered decUning catches.^" 



Report of the Working Group on Joint Biological and 

 Economic Assessment of Conservation Actions, at 2, 

 ICNAF Comm. Doc. 67/19, Annual Meeting, June 1967. 

 (hereinafter referred to as Report of the Working Group). 

 The Working Group was estabUshed by ICNAF with 

 participation by FAO, NEAFC and OECD. To cover all 

 the cod and haddock fisheries of the North Atlantic 

 would require inclusion of the entire ICNAF Area plus 

 Region 1 of the NEAFC Area. 



If total effort in the North Atlantic cod and 

 haddock fisheries is reduced 10-20 percent, it is 

 estimated that aggregate annual savings of $50 to 

 $100 million can be reaUzed by all participants, 

 with additional economic benefits to be derived 

 from improved size composition of the catch.' ' 

 The maximum sustainable catch of Georges Bank 

 haddock can be taken with a sharply reduced 

 fishing effort that, in the long run, would increase 

 the average catch per unit of effort by about 50 

 percent over the 1963-64 level.' ^ Yet a study by 

 OECD indicates that fishing effort on the North 

 Atlantic cod and haddock stocks may increase by 

 as much as 15-30 percent by 1970, and probably 

 result in a decrease in the total catch, as well as a 

 reduction of the catch per unit of effort consider- 

 ably below the 1963-65 level.' ^ 



The nations participating in the fisheries in the 

 ICNAF area are open to the idea of a system of 

 national catch quotas for the cod and haddock 

 fisheries. In addition, their Commission is highly 

 respected and can call upon a competent and 

 generally cooperative group of scientists and econ- 

 omists to make the system work. 



The idea of national catch quotas was first 

 suggested to ICNAF in 1965 in a report by the 

 Chairman of its Research and Statistics Committee 

 and the Chairman of its Assessment Subcom- 

 mittee.''* This suggestion was discussed at 

 ICNAF's June 1965 meeting. It was again very 

 carefully considered in a note by the United 

 Kingdom Commissioners presented to the June 

 1966 meeting of ICNAF." At this meeting, 

 ICNAF established a working group to assess its 

 conservation measures from both the biological 

 and economic points of view. The Report of the 

 Working Group, presented to the June 1967 

 meeting of ICNAF, strongly endorsed a national 

 catch quota system.' * In response to this Report, 

 ICNAF set up a Standing Committee on Regula- 

 tory Measures to study the ecpnomic and admin- 



48 



'Id. at 2. 



Id. at 3. 

 "^Ibid. 



Information suppUed by Department of State. 



Report of the Working Group, supra note 42, at 4. 



Id., Appendix I, at 3. 



'^W. at 5. 



See note 24 supra. 



"Note by the United Kingdom Commissioners on the 

 Regulation of Fishing Effort, ICNAF Comm. Doc. 66-17 

 (1966). 



'*Note 46 supra. Presentation in the text is based 

 entirely upon this and the other ICNAF documents cited 

 above. 



VIII-58 



