U.S. Fishing Fees

Implications of Increases on Japan and the Merits of Other Fee Systems Gao ID: RCED-87-86BR March 19, 1987

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effect of U.S. fishing fees on Japan.

GAO found that: (1) fishery legislation extended U.S. authority to regulate and manage fishery resources in fishery conservation zones (FCZ) and gave priority to U.S. fishermen to fish within 200 miles of the U.S. coast; (2) the legislation limited foreign fishing in FCZ to those species that U.S. fishermen did not fully harvest; (3) foreign fishing decreased substantially as U.S. fishing increased under joint ventures; (4) Japan's total fish supply has increased primarily because of larger sardine catches in Japanese waters; (5) Japanese fishing in U.S. waters has declined because of reduced U.S. allocations, not increased U.S. fishing fees; and (6) the Department of Commerce decided not to pursue an auction fee system because decreased fishing made an alternative system unnecessary.



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