The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission was established by an act of Congress (P.L. 81-66) in 1949 as a compact of the five Gulf States. Its charge is: "to promote better utilization of the fisheries, marine, shell and anadromous, of the seaboard of the Gulf of Mexico, by the development of a joint program for the promotion and protection of such fisheries and the prevention of the physical waste of the fisheries from any cause."