total fishing catch. In 1976 about 3.5 million tonnes, 
over 30 percent of its 1976 fishing catch, came from 
waters within 200 miles of foreign countries. For 
several years, Japanese fishing and trading compan- 
ies have invested in Alaska fish processing plants 
anticipating the day when United States law would 
restrict fishing in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern 
Bering Sea. 
U.S. Overseas Fishing 
Fishery agreements concerning U.S. access to 
foreign zones for shrimp and tuna fishing are of 
primary importance to the United States. The U.S. 
catch of shrimp taken from the Mexican Economic 
Zone and Brazilian Economic Zone is as follows: 
in 1976, 95,290 tonnes of shrimp were taken from 
the Gulf of Mexico, 2,390 tonnes from Mexican 
waters, and 16,948 tonnes from Brazilian waters. 
About 400,000 tonnes of tuna worth $250 million 
are caught annually in the waters stretching from 
Southern California to Chile. The U.S. tuna fleet 
takes about 75 percent of the total catch in this area 
and has the largest and most efficient vessels. The 
United States consumes 90 percent of the total tuna 
catch in the area. 
The Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
of 1976 does not include tuna as a species to be 
managed by the United States. All the coastal nations 
of the prime tuna-fishing area claim jurisdiction over 
the tuna within 200 miles of their coasts. The U.S. 
fishing zone law expresses the principle that tuna 
should be managed internationally. Differences in 
jurisdictional concepts concerning tuna have existed 
for nearly 30 years between the United States and 
other countries, especially Ecuador and Peru, result- 
ing in the occasional seizure of United States ships. 
The jurisdictional claims concerning tuna could be 
a source, of disagreement between the United States 
and nearly every country in the Eastern Pacific 
claiming a 200-mile zone, especially Costa Rica, 
Mexico, and Panama. 
Currently, the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Com- 
mission (IATTC) regulates yellowfin tuna in the 
Commission Yellowfin Regulatory Area from Cali- 
fornia to Peru. Regulations include limits on season 
openings and closings, closed season allowances, and 
incidental catch allowances. Enforcement of IATTC 
regulations is carried out by member nations against 
vessels of their respective flags in the same way that 
U.S.-flag tuna vessels are subjected to procedures 
and penalties available under the Tuna Convention 
Act of 1950. Future management systems for tuna 
may combine the U.S. concepts of international man- 
agement with individual national jurisdictional 
claims. 
The vast majority of Atlantic tuna are caught off 
the coast of Africa in the eastern tropical Atlantic. 
The U.S. fishery for Atlantic tuna is subject to the 
provisions of the Atlantic Tuna Convention Act of 
1975, and regulated under the International Com- 
mission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna. Most 
tuna caught in these waters are yellowfin, skipjack, 
or tropical tunas. Yellowfin and skipjack tunas are 
also caught in the western Atlantic. The total catch 
of yellowfin and skipjack tuna increased from 20,700 
tonnes in 1970 to 21,400 tonnes in 1975. The Inter- 
national Commission for Conservation of Atlantic 
Tuna has established conservation measures designed 
to enhance the status of the Atlantic tuna resources. 
Marine Mammals 
The National Marine Fisheries Service is respon- 
sible for the determination of international policy 
proposals concerning whales and other marine mam- 
mals except manatees, polar bears, sea otters, and 
walrus, which are under the jurisdiction of the De- 
partment of the Interior under terms of the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endan- 
gered Species 4-t of 1973. An exchange of views 
is facilitated by interagency committees, whose mem- 
bership consists of representatives from the Depart- 
ments of Commerce, the Interior, and State, the 
Council on Environmental Quality, the Marine 
Mammal Commission, and members of special inter- 
est groups, as observers. The passage of the Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act extends the U.S. 
jurisdiction over whales and other marine mammals 
to 200 miles. The Marine Mammal Protection Act 
prohibits the taking of whales within the U.S. juris- 
dictional waters and therefore prohibits whaling in 
the near North Pacific Ocean, including Hawaiian 
waters, by Japan and the Soviet Union, the two 
principal remaining commercial whaling nations in 
the world. 
Fish Imports 
Historically, the United States has been a net im- 
porter of fishery products. In 1977, the United States 
imported over 1 millon tonnes of edible fishery 
products valued at $2.1 billion and exported 148,976 
tonnes of edible domestic fishery products valued 
at $473.4 million. In the same year, the United 
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