involved, and frequently the same vessel can 

 be employed in fishing for several species. In 

 many cases, the same vessel catches several 

 species simultaneously. Classification by type 

 of vessel and gear seems to be indicated for 

 economic purposes, but there is no accurate 

 inventory of vessels by size, gear, and fishing 

 effort. 



Status of Current Ittformation 



Presently the responsiblity for collecting 

 economic information relative to U.S. fisheries 

 is left almost entirely to the Federal Govern- 

 ment through the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service (NMFS). There are no comprehensive 

 regional data collection programs to augment 

 the Federal information base. Few of the 

 regional studies which have been made are 

 based on primary data; most piece the Federal 

 data together with an assortment of ad hoc 

 studies done in the region. 



The information in regional studies is often 

 not current by the time they are published and 

 the retrievability and validity of the raw data 

 decay quickly because continuity is lacking 

 and the institutional context of the studies is 

 not favorable to maintaining a continuing 

 data base. Most of the regional studies which 

 have been done would be of limited use to the 

 Regional Councils in their fisheries manage- 

 ment work. 



Two divisions of the NMFS have been pri- 

 marily responsible for the collection of 

 economic information. These are the Statistics 

 and Market News Division (SMND), which is 

 specifically charged with the collection of data 

 and preparation of periodic statistical reports, 

 and the Economics and Marketing Research 

 Division (EMRD), which was oriented toward 

 economic research and analysis of SMND and 

 other data. 



However, NMFS recently phased out 

 EMRD. In view of the new economic informa- 

 tion requirements of Public Law 94-265, this 

 decision raises serious questions about the 

 sources of data and analysis for carrying out 

 provisions of the law. 



In the past, the two divisions of NMFS col- 

 lected information, either directly or from 

 State agencies, on landings by species, value, 

 area of capture, depth, fishing effort, and days 

 absent from port for each vessel trip in the 

 New England offshore fisheries and the Gulf 

 of Mexico shrimp fishery. This information is 

 stored on computer tape or market report 

 sheets and is available at the Northeast Fish- 

 eries Center at Woods Hole, Mass., and at the 

 Washington, D.C., office of SMND. Among 

 the other data series collected by NMFS are: 78 



retail price data for major fish products 

 in New York, 



wholesale price data for selected fish 

 products, 



ex -vessel price data, 



production and cold-storage holdings for 

 many fish products, 



import-export data for various fish prod- 

 ucts, 



a limited amount of foreign statistics, 

 supply, utilization, and stocks of selected 

 fish products, 



commercial landings by State, 

 regional summaries of landings, 

 processing and foreign trade bulletins, 

 historical statistics, 

 economic analysis and indicators, 

 market news, and 

 recreational fishing statistics. 



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