Interstate arrangements for managing fisheries on inland border waters

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1984
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Abstract

The inland interstate borderfisheries and the arrangements to manage them were identified and described by two surveys. A cartographic survey of the U.S. inland borders (excluding the Great Lakes) identified 62 rivers, 71 impoundments of non-border rivers, and 64 natural lakes, totalling 4.1 million acres. A telephone/mail survey of 48 state inland fisheries chiefs identified 68 interstate arrangements. A typology of interstate arrangements was developed and used to differentiate these along two dimensions -- type of agreement and type of management framework. Fifty-five of the 81 watered borders were covered by a Type IA arrangement that is negotiated directly between two states and does not establish an autonomous institution. Their four major functions were to (1) control fishing, ( 2) control management, ( 3) delimit the scope of the arrangement, and (4) protect the arrangement. Seventeen provisions identified matters to be addressed within each of those four functions, with specifications defining how each matter would be handled. For instance, 59 arrangements controlled the use of the resource; 56 of the 59 included a provision for type of license reciprocity; and 50 of the 56 specified simple recognition of both states' licenses. The Type IA arrangements occurred most often and were most complex on rivers -- the largest borderwater type -- and on borders that were really important to the border states. Some arrangement characteristics were highly regionalized, suggesting that the lack of communication has limited the use of promising arrangement alternatives.

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