September 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



37 



International (Contd.): 



(1) an exchange of research information on the 

 trawl fisheries; and (2) a joint investigation 

 into the saury resources including the tech- 

 niques of processing and information on the 

 effect of the fishery near Japan on the resource. 

 (Fisheries Attache, United States Embassy, 

 Tokyo, June 21 and 30, 1966.) 



INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE 

 NORTHWEST ATLANTIC FISHERIES 



16TH ANNUAL MEETING: 



The Plenary Sessions of the 1966 Interna- 

 tional Commission for the Northwest Atlantic 

 Fisheries (ICNAF) annual meeting were held 

 June 5-11, 1966, in Madrid, Spain. Delegates 

 were present for all 13 ICNAF countries. 

 The Plenary Sessions had been preceded by 

 almost two weeks of preliminary scientific 

 meetings wherein many items of substantive 

 interest to ICNAF were discussed and reports 

 prepared to guide the Commissioners in their 

 deliberations. The data upon which the dis- 

 cussions and reports were based had been 

 submitted by member countries in the inter- 

 im since the last annual meeting. There were 

 several items of special concern to the United 

 States. 



Topside Chafing Gear Problem : ICNAF has 

 been unable to bring needed mesh regulations 

 into effect. These regulations had been ear- 

 lier agreed to by most ICNAF Contracting 

 Governments, but had been accepted only with 

 reservations by the United Kingdom, the 

 U.S.S.R,, and Poland. The reservations were 

 that the regulations not apply to chafing gear 

 used by stern trawlers. -These countries, 

 especially the U.S.S.R., use many stern trawl- 

 ers in the ICNAF Convention area. 



Just before the meeting the United King- 

 dom informed the United States of its desire 

 to withdraw its reservations on topside chaf- 

 ing gear if the other Governments taking 

 reservation did likewise. The Polish Dele- 

 gation presented evidence to the Commission 

 that it had developed a type of topside chaf- 

 ing gear which satisfied Commission con- 

 servation requirements. The Commission 

 agreed that the Polish type of gear would be 

 acceptable for use and the Polish stated that 

 with this agreement they could withdraw their 

 reservation on the previously proposed regu- 

 lations. The Soviets agreed to equip their 

 vessels with this gear but stated this would 

 take "some time,' after which they would be 

 in a position to withdraw their reservation. 



Soviet Capture of Haddock in ICNAF Sub - 

 area 5: The Soviet catch of haddock in ICNAF 

 Subarea 5 (Georges Bank, just off New Eng- 

 land) rose from 5,483 metric tons in 1964 to 

 81,882 tons in 1965. This was more than the 

 combined catch of haddock from Subarea 5 by 

 both Canada and the United States. The So- 

 viets acknowledged that they had begun a fish- 

 ery for haddock in Subarea 5 during the latter 

 part of 1965 (their prior catches were made 

 incidental to the capture of other species) and 

 claimed to be using regulation gear. They 

 said they had collected no samples of com- 

 mercially caught haddock in Subarea 5 in 

 1965, but would in 1966 and would report on 

 this fishery to the next ICNAF annual meet- 

 ing. 



Regulation of Effort: The subject of regu- 

 lation of fishing effort in the Convention Area 

 was discussed at the ICNAF meeting. This 

 discussion was not new to most ICNAF mem- 

 bers, since most belong as well to the North 

 East Atlantic Fisheries Commission(NEAFC). 

 This question had been considered in depth 

 at the 1966 NEAFC annual meeting held in 

 May 1966. At the ICNAF and NEAFC meet- 

 ings, the delegations agreed that it would be 

 worthwhile to consider the topic of effort 

 regulation, but no agreement was reached as 

 to how this regulation should be brought a- 

 bout. 



The subject of introducing economic cri- 

 teria in determining effects of conservation 

 regulations was discussed, and met with par- 

 ticularly divergent views. Nevertheless, it 

 was agreed that the subject of introducing 

 economic criteria into determining yields 

 from the Convention area should be generally 

 discussed, and a working party of biologists 

 and economists was appointed to study the 

 subject and report to the next ICNAF annual 

 meeting. (U. S. Embassy, Madrid, June 16, 

 1966.) 



Notes: (1) Member countries of ICNAF are the United States, 

 United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Federal Republic 

 of Germany, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, 

 and the Soviet Union. 



(2) See Commercial Fisheries Review . Aug. 1964 p. 49. 



INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE 

 EXPLORATION OF THE SEA (ICES) 



SYMPOSIUM ON "THE LIVING 

 RESOURCES OF THE AFRICAN 

 ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL SHELF": 



A symposium on "The Living Resources 

 of the African Atlantic Continental Shelf, the 

 stocks of such resources and their fisheries 

 between the Strait of Gibraltar and Cape 



