OPPapers.com

The Impact Of Foreign Countries On Atlantic Fisheries

The Impact of Foreign Countries on the Northwest Atlantic Fishery

The Northwest Atlantic Fishery is a monumental part of the United States' history as well culture. This fishery has also fueled much controversy within the US in years past, and still continues to do so today. Throughout history commercial fishing in the Northwest Atlantic as well as the United States of America, have endured many changes which have created problems within them. These changes have included things like upgrades in technology, operating costs of fishing, quotas on the amount of fish being caught, territorial boundaries for fishing, the amount of fish available to catch, speculations over the idea of over fishing, as well as many others. However, the one thing which remained constant in the fishery was the presence of countries, other than the US, fishing in the Northwest Atlantic. The impact of foreign countries on the Northwest Atlantic Fishery, as well as the United States, has been felt for hundreds of years. The presence of non-US fishing vessels in Northwest Atlantic waters dates back to as early as the 1400's. These fishing vessels were coming from many different places around the world. The countries that have sent ships to fish the Northwest Atlantic waters include Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Greece, Spain, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, Cuba, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, as well as others. In spite of the fact that foreign countries have had success fishing in waters much closer to their homes, they have continually sent fleets of fishing vessels to the Northwest Atlantic in search of profitable returns. Year after year foreign boats fished on the Grand Banks and around the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. It wasn't until the mid 1900's that foreign fishing boats began to flock to the area of Georges Banks and intrude on the place where American fishermen had been fishing. As a result of fishing by foreign countries in this area, a tremendous amount of turmoil was...