Introduction

Ocean fisheries are a resource of great value but their efficient management leaves much to be desired. Total marine catch increased from about 60 million tons in the early 1970s to almost 91 million tons in 1995 (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] 1997). But increasing aggregate catch may simply imply unsustainable exploitation levels. The FAO estimates that for 1994,35 percent of major fisheries were showing declining yields, 25 percent were at high exploitation levels, and 40 percent were capable of higher yields (and thus implying a need to reduced fishing pressure for restocking); no underdeveloped fisheries remain. It concludes that “given that few countries have established effective control of fishing capacity, these resources are in urgent need of management action to halt the increase in fishing capacity or to rehabilitate damaged resources” (FAO 1997, p. 43). The composition of the fish harvest is also shifting toward lower-valued species. The proportion of catch by weight of pelagic (that is, open ocean) fish, which except for tuna tend to be low-valued fish, has increased from 50 percent in 1950 to over 60 percent in 1994 (FAO 1997, p. 33). This is consistent with data showing that the proportion of the total catch used for fishmeal and fish oil has increased from about 16 percent in 1953 to about 28 percent in 1994. From an economic perspective, fishing effort is highly inefficient.