52
J. 9. GULLAND AND J. E. CARROZ
this stage is nowhere being approached even in the most intensively
studied fisheries. I n many areas even the information on total catches
is not available, while other basic data that should be collected routinely
(the breakdown of total catch by species and by small areas corresponding to biological unit stocks, the effort involved in taking the catch,
the size and age composition of the catch, etc.) are lacking or scarce in
nearly all areas. There is, therefore, an urgent need for better collection
of these data, as well as more original scientific research in interpreting
the data as they become available.
The other type of action needed to attain proper management lies
in the administrative field. As a preliminary there is probably still need
for greater awareness of the very large economic benefits that can arise
from proper management and, conversely, of the danger of losing most
of these potential benefits even when the regulations introduced are
successful so far as the biological effects on the stocks are concerned.
This does require some degree of economic analysis, but when a stock
is in need of regulation the economic implications are likely to be so
obvious, once considered at all, that the analysis need only be very
simple, and even major differences in the economic factors in the
countries concerned are likely to be unimportant.
What the analysis will show is the magnitude of the net economic
yield (possible value of catch, less cost of catching) that could be taken
from the stock. The next important decision is how this yield is t o be
taken and distributed, and it is this decision for which, with the
exception of the special case of the fur seal, there is little administrative
machinery. A distinction should be made here between two aspects of
the yield from a fishery : the gross physical yield, in terms of fish, and
the net economic yield, the difference between the value of the catch
and cost of catching it. I n an unmanaged fishery this latter yield tends
towards zero or is a t least no more than will provide a reasonable
return on the capital, etc., invested, so that discussions on allocation of
yield have generally centred round the allocation of catch, although the
potential net economic yield from a properly managed fishery can be
very high. However, the differing requirements of various countries
may mean that the catch is divided in quite different proportions from
the economic yield : a country with a low supply of protein might place
its emphasis on having a large share of the total catch, while another
country might be more interested in the net economic yield. Thus a
coastal state might decide to make use of the fishery resources within
its territorial waters by allowing a certain number of foreign vessels to
fish in these waters for a suitable fee, rather than forbidding foreign
fishing entirely; the coastal state might then take a smaller proportion
J. 9. GULLAND AND J. E. CARROZ
this stage is nowhere being approached even in the most intensively
studied fisheries. I n many areas even the information on total catches
is not available, while other basic data that should be collected routinely
(the breakdown of total catch by species and by small areas corresponding to biological unit stocks, the effort involved in taking the catch,
the size and age composition of the catch, etc.) are lacking or scarce in
nearly all areas. There is, therefore, an urgent need for better collection
of these data, as well as more original scientific research in interpreting
the data as they become available.
The other type of action needed to attain proper management lies
in the administrative field. As a preliminary there is probably still need
for greater awareness of the very large economic benefits that can arise
from proper management and, conversely, of the danger of losing most
of these potential benefits even when the regulations introduced are
successful so far as the biological effects on the stocks are concerned.
This does require some degree of economic analysis, but when a stock
is in need of regulation the economic implications are likely to be so
obvious, once considered at all, that the analysis need only be very
simple, and even major differences in the economic factors in the
countries concerned are likely to be unimportant.
What the analysis will show is the magnitude of the net economic
yield (possible value of catch, less cost of catching) that could be taken
from the stock. The next important decision is how this yield is t o be
taken and distributed, and it is this decision for which, with the
exception of the special case of the fur seal, there is little administrative
machinery. A distinction should be made here between two aspects of
the yield from a fishery : the gross physical yield, in terms of fish, and
the net economic yield, the difference between the value of the catch
and cost of catching it. I n an unmanaged fishery this latter yield tends
towards zero or is a t least no more than will provide a reasonable
return on the capital, etc., invested, so that discussions on allocation of
yield have generally centred round the allocation of catch, although the
potential net economic yield from a properly managed fishery can be
very high. However, the differing requirements of various countries
may mean that the catch is divided in quite different proportions from
the economic yield : a country with a low supply of protein might place
its emphasis on having a large share of the total catch, while another
country might be more interested in the net economic yield. Thus a
coastal state might decide to make use of the fishery resources within
its territorial waters by allowing a certain number of foreign vessels to
fish in these waters for a suitable fee, rather than forbidding foreign
fishing entirely; the coastal state might then take a smaller proportion