ABSTRACT
However, even though the basic steps remain, many refinements have taken place. Diesel engines, power blocks, nylon nets, and refrigeration are only a few of the many innovations that have led to significant increases in catching power and in the preservation and distribution of fish. In the last fifteen or twenty years, the pace of technological development has increased rapidly, spurred on by the technical knowledge gained during the Second World War, and supported by governmental research. Some of these innovations, while reducing the cost of catching fish from a given population, also tend to reduce the size of the population and to lead to depletion of stocks that are already fully exploited. Other innovations extend the range of fishing effort so that local fishermen find themselves more and more in competition with those from fardistant nations. Such changes tend to aggravate the conflicts and difficulties that are presently being experienced in the exploitation of marine fisheries.
