Fisheries Management: An Historical Overview CLINTON E. ATKINSON Introduction lowed by most other countries: Here we diseases of fish" (Brice 1898:138). have always considered that manage­ Although much of our early informa­ At this 50th Anniversary of the Mont­ ment of fisheries was a state's right and tion on the fisheries of the Pacific coast lake Laboratory we have heard accounts the jurisdiction of the Federal govern­ came from the first surveys of the vari­ of its role in studies of the fisheries re­ ment has been generally limited to 0us salmon streams in a search for source and its environment, fishing and Territories, the high seas, and manage­ suitable locations for hatcheries, the fishing methods, and utilization of the ment under international treaty and/or Smithsonian Institution and the u.S. catch. Now we will explore the manage­ administration and, in the case of sal­ Commission of Fish and Fisheries un­ ment of the fishery and marine mam­ mon and certain other freshwater fishes, dertook a comprehensive survey of the mal resources. access and protection of fish in navig­ fish and fisheries of the United States, If we examine the history of these able waters. Needless to say, this frag­ directed by Congress as a part of the management practices, we can recog­ mentation of management authority over 10th census (1880). The series of reports nize at least three stages of development fish and fisheries that share the waters generated by the survey still provide a or goals: 1) To stop the decline and of the several states or go beyond their wealth of information on the histories simply maintain the existing level of coastal zones has been the source of in­ of the various fisheries, their records of yield, 2) to determine, theoretically or numerable conflicts between the states exploitation, and the early efforts at empirically at least, the maximum sus­ or between the states and the Federal management. tainable biological yield and, most re­ government. David Starr Jordon, who was then cently, 3) to extend the maximum bio­ The United States Commission of President of Indiana University, was logical yield to include the economic Fish and Fisheries was established by among the 19 scientists and experts and social benefits as well. Each of these law in 1871 with Spencer F. Baird of the chosen as associate authors for this SUf­ steps, in their time, were considered Smithsonian Institution as its first Com­ vey by Spencer Baird of the commission complex but are gradually being over­ missioner. By far, the greatest emphasis and George Goode of the Smithsonian: come through experience and the devel­ of the work of the Commission during These two and Jordan, along with opment of scientific knowledge. Yet to its first years was directed toward the ar­ Charles H. Gilbert, conducted the sur­ be resolved, however, are the added dif­ tificial propagation of food and game vey of "The Salmon Fishing and Can­ ficulties imposed by political pressure fish especially for the marine species ning Interests of the Pacific Coast" groups and legal decisions, all too fre­ along the New England coast. Billions (Jordan and Gilbert, 1887). Soon after­ quently divorced from scientific fact or of eggs were collected each year, incu­ wards, Leland Stanford University was reason, and now broadly included with­ bated, and the young released in an ef­ founded at Palo Alto, Calif., and David in the concept of "social benefits" of the fort to maintain the important fisheries Starr Jordan was appointed its first present goal of management. of the United States. There were mas­ President. For nearly the next 50 years, Management of fisheries in the United sive transplants made in those early the scientific investigations and the man­ States is quite different from that fol- years of American shad, Alosa sapidis­ agement activities of the U.S. Commis­ sima, and striped bass, Morone saxa­ sion of Fish and Fisheries (and later, the tiUs, from the Atlantic to the Pacific U.S. Bureau of Fisheries) on the Pacific Clinton E. Atkinson is a former Director, Seattle Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Commercial coasts and, conversely, Pacific salmon, coast centered around Jordan, his facul­ Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; present Oncorhynchus spp., trout, Salmo spp., ty, and students at Stanford University. address: 4055 21st Ave. W., Seattle, WA 98199. from the west coast to the eastern The fishery research vessel Albatross This article was originally presented at the 50th Anniversary Symposium of the NMFS Northwest streams. The scientific work of the was built by the U.S. Commission of and Alaska Fisheries Center, Z725 Montlake Blvd. Commission at that time generally Fish and Fisheries in 1882 initially fOf E., Seattle, WA 98112, in October 1981. In previous years the Center has been referred to as the North­ centered around studies "to determine surveys along the Atlantic coast. In 1887 west Fisheries Center, Seattle Biological Labora­ the best methods to be pursued in fish­ it was transferred to the Pacific coast tory, or the "Montlake Laboratory." Views or opi­ culture, to ascertain the results of fish and, for the next 25 years, was engaged nions expressed or implied are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of propagation and to study the habits, in a wide variety of assignments extend­ the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. migrations, growth, food, enemies, and ing across the North Pacific Ocean from 50(4), 1988 111 California, Oregon, and Washington to Russian-American Company in Alaska, Pribilof Islands provides one of the the coasts of Japan and Russia and from but the annual yield of which was earliest examples of successful manage­ the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea to already showing signs of serious deple­ ment of an aquatic resource, especially the Hawaiian Islands. tion due to excessive kill. After about in international management. It is an ex­ It should be pointed out that the U.S. 2 years of private commercial sealing, tremely valuable resource, attracting the Commission of Fish and Fisheries (es­ the United States declared the Pribilof attention of the early explorers from tablished in 1871) had little time to be­ Islands a national preserve and the Russia, and the annual harvest provided come actively involved in the manage­ Federal Government assumed manage­ the chief source of revenue for the Rus­ ment of the fisheries of the States of ment of the fur seal resource in 1870. sian colonial government and the Rus­ California (granted statehood in 1850) The salmon fisheries began to show sian-American Company during the 18th and Oregon (granted statehood in 1859), depletion within 20 years of the estab­ and 19th centuries. but the situation in Washington (granted lishment of the first cannery in Alaska Its history provides many examples of statehood in 1889) was a little different: at Klawok (1877). The Pacific halibut, overkills and waste, the effects of severe The salmon fishery began in 1877 while Hippoglossus stenolepis, fisheries began environmental conditions (e.g., the ex­ Washington was still a Territory and to decline in the early 1900's and the tended ice conditions reported in 1834), almost from the very beginning of the herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, fish­ problems of pelagic sealing and attempts salmon fishery, there was conflict be­ eries in the 1930's. at protection of the fur seals and inter­ tween U.S. and Canadian fishermen These were the important fisheries of national arbitration and, finally, the first over the U.S. catch of sockeye salmon, Alaska until statehood in 1959, and all international fishery management treaty Oncorhynchus nerka, that passed have been the subject of a series of by the United States. The author has through U.S. waters on their way to studies and recommendations, first by taken the liberty of reprinting here, ver­ spawn in the Fraser River which is al­ select groups of scientists from Stanford batim, the excellent description of the most completely within the Province of University, then by the organized re­ history of fur sealing by Baker et al., British Columbia. search programs (such as the Pacific 1970: 2-4, 14-17). The first attempt to resolve the con­ Fishery Investigations) at Stanford Uni­ "In 1742 Georg Wilhelm Steller drew flict was through the International Joint versity and later at the Montlake labor­ up the first scientific description of the Commission (United States and Cana­ atory, by the state agencies and univer­ fur seal after he had survived the wreck da), and the U.S. Commission of Fish sities, and by international fishery of the vessel commanded by Vitus Ber­ and Fisheries was called upon to pro­ commissions. ing off what is now called Bering Island vide the Joint Commission with the ap­ Although the Federal government was in the Commander Islands, U.S.S.R. propriate background information and relieved of its fishery management re­ These islands are one of the three prin­ statistics. The U.S. Commission of Fish sponsibilities for Alaska and Hawaii in cipal breeding grounds of the northern and Fisheries and its subsequent U.S. 1959, the more recently enacted Marine fur seal. fishery agencies have continued to be Mammal Protection Act, the Endan­ "In 1783 Gerassim Pribilof, navigator plagued with the problems of interna­ gered Species Act, and the Magnuson in the service of Imperial Russia, joined tional management of salmon fisheries Fishery Management and Conservation the search for other breeding grounds for almost 100 years; and, although the Act of 1976 have placed broader and, in of the North Pacific fur seals. The Rus­ organization of the International Pacific many ways, more difficult responsibil­ sians originally came to this area in Salmon Fisheries Commission in 1937 ities within the Federal government's search of sea otters, and here they found took the pressure off the Fraser River fishery laboratories and management fur seals as well.