Letters and telegrams-Continued Jackson, Charles E., legislative representative, National Fisheries Jarvela, Hon. Gilbert A., member, Alaska State Legislature, house of Lokken, Harold E., manager, Fishing Vessel Owners Association, McKernan, Donald L., Director, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Modesto, Octavio A., general manager, Seafood Producers' Associa- Owen, Hon. Alfred A., member of the Senate, State of Alaska, Uganik, Peabody, Hon. Endicott, Governor of the State of Massachusetts, Schoning, Robert W., State fisheries director, Fish Commission of Suomela, Arnie J., fisheries attaché, American Embassy, Tokyo, Turner, Charles P., vice president, Kadiak Fisheries Co., 1826 Ex- change Building, Seattle, Wash.. Wakefield, Lowell, president, Wakefield Fisheries, Port Wakefield, Affidavit signed by members of the crew of the trawler Massachusetts__ "2.3 Billion Should Go Into the Ocean," editorial, Life magazine, "50 Russian Trawlers 4 Miles off Cape Cod," by Frank White, Boston Globe, August 14, 1963. "Invasion of U.S. Territorial Waters by Russian Fishing Vessels," remarks by Hon. E. L. Bartlett, Senator from Alaska, Con- gressional Record, September 9, 1963, pp. 15863–67, including "Red Press Hits President and Ted Kennedy," Washington Evening Star, September 7, 1963, reprinted in Congressional Record, September 9, 1963, p. 15683_- Alaska State laws relating to marine fisheries: See insertion following testimony by E. S. Marvich, fish and game commis- Australian laws relating to marine fisheries-Commonwealth of Australia, an act relating to Pearl Shell, Trochus, Beche-de-mer and Green Snail Fisheries in certain Australian waters, as Canadian laws relating to marine fisheries_ "France-Fishing Regulations within Territorial Waters; En- "Japanese Law Governing Foreign Fishing Vessels," Library Massachusetts general laws relating to marine fisheries_ Russian Laws-"Provisions for Enforcing Fishing Regulations Within the Territorial Waters of the USSR," Library of State laws on commercial fishing by aliens, Library of Congress___ 35 58 Russian fishing vessels off Massachusetts, figs. 1 through 5.- Russian whaling vessel off Alaska, figs. 6 through 9.--. Coast Guard on incidents of August 28 and September 8, 1963, as printed in Congressional Record, September 9, 1963, "Continental Shelf Convention," from Final Report of the "Fisheries of the World (1961)," Department of the Interior- "Foreign Catch of King Crabs, Clams, and Oysters in U.S. Con- tinental Shelf Waters," Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior Senate Report No. 212, 87th Congress, 2d session, reprinted in "S. 1988-Protective Legislation and the U.S. Shrimp Industry,' "Catch of Oysters, Dungeness and King Crabs, and Clams, by States," Department of the Interior__ "Present and Potential Utilization of Dungeness Crab in Addi- tional Territorial Waters of Alaska as Encompassed by the Straight Baseline Method," Department of the Înterior. "Present and Potential Utilization of King Crab in Additional Territorial Waters of Alaska as Encompassed by the Straight Baseline Method," Department of the Interior.. "World Catch of Fish, Crustaceans, Mollusks, etc.," by coun- Alaska State Legislature_---- 127 FISHING IN U.S. TERRITORIAL WATERS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1963 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES SUBCOMMITTEE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, Hon. E. L. Bartlett presiding. Senator BARTLETT. The subcommittee will be in order. The purpose of the hearing this morning is to consider S. 1988, a bill to prohibit fishing in the territorial waters of the United States and in certain other areas by persons other than nationals or inhabitants of the United States. I introduced the bill on August 6, and Senators Dodd, Ervin, Inouye, Jackson, Kennedy, Magnuson, Neuberger, Scott, Ribicoff, Smathers, Morse, and Thurmond have cosponsored. The bill makes it unlawful for foreign vessels to fish in the U.S. territorial sea or to take Continental Shelf fishery resources claimed by the United States. Appropriate penalties for violators are established, and enforcement machinery and procedures are set up. The bill's introduction stems from a longstanding need for the clarification of American law's prohibition of foreign encroachment upon territorial sea and Continental Shelf fishery resources and for the establishment of effective penalties and procedures so as to enforce these prohibitions. The issue has been given new focus during the last few months-months which have seen foreign fishing operations of an unprecedented scale off our shores, accompanied by increasingly frequent territorial waters violations. I should like to insert, if there is no objection, in the record initially a copy of the bill, my remarks to the Senate at the time S. 1988 was introduced, the United Nations Convention on the Continental Shelf-which will be in force after the ratification of one more nation— and a report from the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries of the Interior Department describing some of the U.S. Continental Shelf fishery resources taken by domestic and foreign fishermen, a report from the Law Library of the Library of Congress entitled "Means of Protection of Continental Shelf Resources Under International Law," reports on Russian, Japanese, and French laws prohibiting foreign vessels from fishing within territorial waters of these nations, a copy of the Australian statute prohibiting the taking of certain fishery resources of the Continental Shelf off Australia, and some agency reports. Professional staff member assigned to this hearing: Harry C. Huse. 1 (The above-mentioned material follows:) [8. 1988, 88th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To prohibit fishing in the territorial waters of the United States and in certain other areas by persons other than nationals or inhabitants of the United States Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is unlawful for any vessel, except a vessel of the United States or for any master or other person in charge of such a vessel, to engage in the fisheries within the territorial waters of the United States and its territories and possessions or to engage in the taking of any fishery resource of the Continental Shelf claimed by the United States except as provided by an international agreement to which the United States is a party. SEC. 2. (a) Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be fined no more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. (b) The vessels and all fish taken or retained in violation of this Act, or the monetary value thereof, may be forfeited. (c) All provisions of law relating to the seizure, judicial forfeiture, and condemnation of a cargo for violation of the customs laws, the disposition of such cargo or the proceeds from the sale thereof, and the remission or mitigation of such forfeitures apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred, or alleged to have been incurred, under the provisions of this Act, insofar as such provisions of law are applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. SEC. 3. (a) Enforcement of the provisions of this Act is the joint responsibility of the United States Coast Guard, the United States Department of the Interior, and the United States Bureau of Customs. In addition, the Secretary of the Interior may designate officers and employees of the States of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and of any territory or possession of the United States to carry out enforcement activities hereunder. When so designated, such officers and employees are authorized to function as Federal law enforcement agents for these purposes. (b) The judges of the United States district courts, the judges of the highest courts of the territories and possessions of the Un ted States, and United States commissioners may, within their respective jurisdictions, upon proper oath or affirmation showing probable cause, issue such warrants or other process as may be required for enforcement of this Act and any regulations issued thereunder. (c) Any person authorized to carry out enforcement activities hereunder shall have the power to execute any warrant or process issued by any officer or court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of this Act. (d) Such person so authorized shall have the power (1) with or without a warrant or other process, to arrest any person committing in his presence or view a violation of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder; (2) with or without a warrant or other process, to search any vessel and, if as a result of such search he has reasonable cause to believe that such vessel or any person on board is in violation of any provision of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder, then to arrest such person. (e) Such person so authorized, may seize, whenever and wherever lawfully found all fish taken or retained in violation of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder. Any fish so seized may be disposed of pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or if perishable, in a manner prescribed by regutions of the Secretary of the Treasury. (f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2464 of title 28 when a warrant of arrest or other process in rem is issued in any cause under this section, the United States marshal or other office. shall stay the execution of such process, or discharge any fish seized if the process has been levied, on reveiving from the claimant of the fish a bond or stipulation for the value of the property with sufficient surety to be approved by a judge of the district court having jurisdiction of the offense, conditioned to deliver the fish seized, if condemned, without impairment in value or, in the discretion of the court, to pay its equivalent value in money or otherwise to answer the decree of the court in such cause. Such bond or stipulation shall be returned to the court and judgment thereon against both the principal and sureties may be recovered in event of any breach of the conditions thereof as determined by the court. In the discretion of the accused, and subject to the direction of the court, the fish may be sold for not less than its reasonable market value and the proceeds of such sale placed in the registry of the court pending judgment in the case. SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to issue such regulations. as he determines necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. [From the Congressional Record, Aug. 6, 1963]} ACTION, NOT WORDS, NEEDED TO PROTECT OUR FISHERY RESOURCES Mr. BARTLETT. Mr. President, I introduce, for appropriate reference, a bill to prohibit foreign vessels from fishing in the territorial waters of the United States or from taking fishery resources of the Continental Shelf claimed by the United States, to set up effective procedures for the enforcement of the act, and to provide appropriate penalties for violators. The introduction of this legislation, Mr. President, stems from a longstanding concern_with_the increasing encroachment of foreign vessels upon our offshore fishery domain and the obvious impotency of our present Federal laws to deal with trespassers who intentionally or otherwise stray within our territorial waters. But the need for this legislation has been pointed up and dramatized by very recent and very alarming intrusions by Soviets whaling vessels into our territorial seas off Alaska. Just last week, on July 28, two Soviet whaleboats were sighted west of Kodiak off Nakchamik Island. That same day another catcher and a mother ship were seen in the territorial waters off Sutwik Island. Two days later, last Tuesday, four additional whale killer vessels were sighted 11⁄2 miles west of Nakchamik Island. The reports of these sightings come from reliable sources, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Kodiak Airways. State Representative Gilbert Jarvela, of Kodiak, has informed me that documentary photographs are available for the July 28 incidents. The Coast Guard and Navy have been informed of the sightings. Let me emphasize, Mr. President, that these vessels were all within our 3-mile territorial sea, some within 1 mile of our shores. It is perhaps also pertinent to note that last week there were some 230 Russian and 50 Japanese vessels fishing in Alaska coastal waters-outside the territorial sea but still in waters which furnish thousands of our fishermen with their means of livelihood and thousands more of our citizens with a vital food supply. Another flagrant encroachment on our territorial sea occurred early last month, this time involving Japanese vessels. On July 3, the Toshi Maru, a Japanese whaler, was sighted operating 11⁄2 miles from Cape Edgecumbe. A week later, on July 10, three Japanese whaling vessels were sighted between Hazy and Coronation Islands, within the territorial sea. These violations of our territorial waters represent only one of the aspects of a total pattern of foreign interference with American fishing. Another longstanding problem has centered around our need to protect the fishery resources of our Continental Shelf. We presently claim king crab_and Dungeness crab as such a resource. This claim is made explicit in article II of the International Convention on the Law of the Seas, which both the United States and Russia have signed and ratified and which, with the ratification of one more nation, will shortly go into effect. The convention recognizes that a coastal state has sovereign rights in the exploitation of natural resources on the Continental Shelf; these resources include those organisms which "in the harvestable stage, either are immobile, or underneath the seabed, or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or subsoil." King crab definitely qualify. Yet the Russians and the Japanese have been engaged in extensive king crab operations on our Continental Shelf in the Bering Sea. And attempts have been made this year for the first time to extend their operations into the Gulf of Alaska. All the claims which we might make and all the declarations which we might make cannot assure the protection of our shelf resources. What is needed is legislation which provides workable procedures and penalties for apprehending and punishing those who violate our claims. Mr. President, I have repeatedly stressed that the territorial sea and Continental Shelf violations which have plagued Alaskan fishermen and citizens are not isolated phenomena; they seem instead rather typical of situations prevailing, because of the heedless fishing practices of certain nations, in other U.S. fishing areas, and indeed all over the world. Japanese and Russian vessels have been sighted off the coasts of Washington and Oregon, along the Atlantic seaboard, and, most notably, in the Gulf of Mexico. I have been pleased to note that the House Armed Services Committee has recently concerned itself with the military implications of Soviet trawler traffic off Florida, an aspect of the problem which demands close scrutiny. Canada has experienced encroachments similar to our own and has responded by proposing the establishment of a 12-mile exclusive fishery zone measured from straight baselines. French and British lobster and crab fishermen have had their gear destroyed by Soviet vessels. And early this year, the Irish Navy took the Soviet trawler Paltus into custody for violating the 3-mile limit. |