which $3 million represented a loan to Korea for 

 fishery equipment.^" The United States also con- 

 tributed in fiscal 1968 approximately $3.6 million 

 to UN organizations for fisheries development.*' 



C. Implications of Recommended Quota System 

 for Other Fisheries 



The problems confronting the nations partici- 

 pating in the North Atlantic cod and haddock 

 fisheries are not unique. The situation in the North 

 Pacific is rapidly approaching that of the North 

 Atlantic and the recommended quota system 

 could weU be given early consideration for the 

 fisheries of that area also. It would resolve the 

 impasse over the abstention doctrine. 



Furthermore, the fleets of long-range vessels are 

 steadily increasing and more and more countries in 

 all parts of the world, including Ghana, Greece, 

 Israel, Italy, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan, are 

 starting to operate such vessels. This development 

 will aggravate the problem of disposing of the 

 excess fishing capacities of nations that will choose 

 to reduce their inputs of capital and labor to the 

 minima required to take their quotas of the North 

 Atlantic cod and haddock fisheries. 



To the extent that the excess capacity consists 

 of obsolete vessels, the likelihood is great that the 

 alternative uses for them would not cover out-of- 

 pocket expenses and they would be retired. 

 Furthermore, there are still substantial stocks of 

 fish in the North Atlantic itself which are not fuUy 

 exploited: herring, blue whiting, capelin, squid, 

 sand eels, redfish.*^ Excess capacity could be 

 shifted to exploiting these stocks. The larger 

 vessels could also shift to the central and south 

 Atlantic, including the trawling grounds off the 

 West Coast of Africa, which offer very abundant 

 hake resources and, in the case of Northwest 

 Africa, other more valuable species as well. 



If presently redundant capital and labor can be 

 shifted to underdeveloped fisheries in the North 

 Atlantic and other areas on a basis that covers the 

 opportunity costs of the variable factors em- 



The data in the text were supplied by the Agency for 

 International Development. 



8 1 



The data in the text were supplied by the National 

 Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Develop- 

 ment and the Department of State. 



82 



Report of Working Group, supra note 46, at 4. 



ployed, it is desirable to do so. Furthermore, the 

 pressure to redeploy such excess capacity should 

 itself speed the development of techniques and 

 acquisition of scientific knowledge required for 

 profitable fishing of underutilized stocks. In this 

 way, the recommended quota system will help to 

 achieve the primary world objective of encourag- 

 ing development of the vast food reserves of the 

 sea. 



It must also be noted that as a result of the 

 recommended quota system, fishing pressure wiU 

 be shifted from the North Atlantic to other areas, 

 including areas which are already beginning to 

 show signs of depletion but are not covered by any 

 fishery convention or are covered by conventions 

 that are in their formative stages. 



In the long run, therefore, international consid- 

 eration wiU have to be given to the impact of the 

 proposed quota system for the cod and haddock 

 fisheries of the North Atlantic, and possibly for 

 the high seas fisheries of the North Pacific as well, 

 upon physical yields and economic returns in all 

 other fisheries. Eventually, this tokens the need 

 for a world-wide system of regional fishery con- 

 ventions, each tailored to its own particular 

 biological and environmental conditions but all 

 entering into, at least in a rough way, a truly 

 international framework of analysis. Experience 

 with national catch quotas for the North Atlantic 

 cod and haddock stocks will be most helpful in 

 solving future problems of restricting fishing effort 

 on a world-wide scale. 



D. Domestic Implications of Recommended 

 Quota System 



To help rehabilitate the commercial fisheries of 

 the United States, the panel recommends that the 

 United States should seize the opportunity that 

 the recommended quota system will offer to 

 reduce its inputs of capital and labor to the 

 minimum necessary to catch its quota and, to this 

 end, to encourage the development of a tech- 

 nically advanced and economically efficient fishing 

 fleet. There are a number of ways in which this 

 might be done; all would require new legislation. 



For example, fishing license fees, vessel taxes or 

 landings taxes of such magnitude might be im- 

 posed as to compel use of only the minimum 

 number of units using the most efficient gear and 

 methods. The same result might be achieved more 



VIII-65 



