50
The Last Resource
shery began in 1888 off Cape F lattery, Washington. By the turn of
the century the annual catch amounted to some 10 million pounds of
sh. Unregulated it continued to increase until in 1915 the catch was
about 69 million pounds. Thereafter things did not go so well and,
in spite of greater shing effort, the catch declined to 44 million
pounds by 1931. A shery commission was set up by the two
countries involved and as a result of its measures stocks have
increased three fold since 1932. Without this joint action, present
catches would probably be in the order of 30 million pounds of
halibut per year, paralleling conditions in the unregulated sheries
of Europe and Japan. just as in Europe, there would be a high
proportion of young sh weighing ve pounds or under, caught
chiey by trawls in the course of harvesting other species of sh.
The maximum sustainable yield of the North American shery is
estimated to be about 70 million pounds of sh per year. And all that
this has involved is proper management of the resource backed by
the modest investment of about 85 million which the two govern—
ments combined have given to the Commission since 1930.
Apart from such encouraging results, the overall picture of the
world’s sheries is a dismal one (see gure 3). No one has yet found a
completely satisfactory solution to the problem facing most tradi—
tional shing areas—namely over—shing. Commercial sheries still
seem destined to suffer the same inexorable exploitation: rst an
unexploited stock is discovered; the catches are good; more shing
_boats are attracted to the area; the total catch remains more or less
steady even in the face of the increased effort; then, nally, the catch
begins to fall as the stock of sh becomes depleted. Of course, in
some respects this process is self—regulating in that, as the size of
individual catches fall, it becomes less economical to operate large,
expensive shing beats in the area. On the other hand, these boats
need to be kept working and this generally means nding fresh
supplies of sh worth exploiting. Consequently shery scientists are
continually searching for these new stocks.
One possible shery, being investigated by British scientists at
the time of writing, is that for hake off the south—west coast of South
Africa. Total landings from this shery, which is already exploited
to some extent, have risen considerably in recent times. However,
bearing in mind the sequence of events mentioned earlier, it would
be pointless adding to this shing effort if the high catches could not
be sustained. The size of the stock, its distribution and the effects of
The Last Resource
shery began in 1888 off Cape F lattery, Washington. By the turn of
the century the annual catch amounted to some 10 million pounds of
sh. Unregulated it continued to increase until in 1915 the catch was
about 69 million pounds. Thereafter things did not go so well and,
in spite of greater shing effort, the catch declined to 44 million
pounds by 1931. A shery commission was set up by the two
countries involved and as a result of its measures stocks have
increased three fold since 1932. Without this joint action, present
catches would probably be in the order of 30 million pounds of
halibut per year, paralleling conditions in the unregulated sheries
of Europe and Japan. just as in Europe, there would be a high
proportion of young sh weighing ve pounds or under, caught
chiey by trawls in the course of harvesting other species of sh.
The maximum sustainable yield of the North American shery is
estimated to be about 70 million pounds of sh per year. And all that
this has involved is proper management of the resource backed by
the modest investment of about 85 million which the two govern—
ments combined have given to the Commission since 1930.
Apart from such encouraging results, the overall picture of the
world’s sheries is a dismal one (see gure 3). No one has yet found a
completely satisfactory solution to the problem facing most tradi—
tional shing areas—namely over—shing. Commercial sheries still
seem destined to suffer the same inexorable exploitation: rst an
unexploited stock is discovered; the catches are good; more shing
_boats are attracted to the area; the total catch remains more or less
steady even in the face of the increased effort; then, nally, the catch
begins to fall as the stock of sh becomes depleted. Of course, in
some respects this process is self—regulating in that, as the size of
individual catches fall, it becomes less economical to operate large,
expensive shing beats in the area. On the other hand, these boats
need to be kept working and this generally means nding fresh
supplies of sh worth exploiting. Consequently shery scientists are
continually searching for these new stocks.
One possible shery, being investigated by British scientists at
the time of writing, is that for hake off the south—west coast of South
Africa. Total landings from this shery, which is already exploited
to some extent, have risen considerably in recent times. However,
bearing in mind the sequence of events mentioned earlier, it would
be pointless adding to this shing effort if the high catches could not
be sustained. The size of the stock, its distribution and the effects of