In the United States, prior to Public Law 94-265, the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, regulation of the harvest of oceanic fishery stocks was complicated by the principles of common property resource laws founded by Grotius\u27 dissertation on freedom of the seas. Public Law 94-265 vests ownership in the right to manage stock of fish within 200 miles of the United States\u27 coast to the United States as trustee of that fishery resource. Within the framework of extended jurisdiction of fishery management, individual states in the republic keep and maintain control of fishery resources. within their respective territories
