Background 



One of the purposes of the Fishery Conser- 

 vation and Management Act of 1976 is to en- 

 courage the revitalization of the U.S. fishing 

 industry, particularly through development of 

 now underutilized stocks. 



Development of the fishing industry is a 

 complicated subject about which little reliable 

 information has been accumulated in the past. 

 With the stimulus provided by the Act, 

 however, new efforts are being made to deter- 

 mine the needs of the industry and the role of 

 the Federal Government in meeting those 

 needs or aiding the industry in meeting them. 



Because several other studies^s were 

 already underway dealing with the needs of 

 the fishing industry, the OTA analysis of this 

 subject was limited to a very general look at 

 the industry. It was intended that once sur- 

 veys mandated by the Eastland Resolution are 

 completed, that information, together with 

 data collected by the General Accounting 

 Office and OTA, should be correlated and 

 analyzed before further study of the industry 

 is undertaken. 



In the meantime, there appears to be 

 general agreement among the Eastland group, 

 GAO, and OTA about the status of relation- 

 ships between the Federal Government and 

 the fishing industry: 



l)The capability and equipment exists for 

 catching almost any kind of fish. Some of 

 this capability is vested in foreign fishing 

 fleets, but it could be adopted for 

 domestic use if there were incentive to do 

 so. What is needed most is a dependable 

 resource and good markets for the catch. 

 These two factors would cause increased 

 interest in technology transfer and new 

 equipment and would allow industry to 

 generate capital for such investments. 



2) The Federal Government does not have 

 much dependable information about 

 technology in the fishing industry. 



3) Fishing technology is very uneven within 

 the industry, ranging from very poor 

 equipment which results in unsuccessful 

 operations to modern, sophisticated 

 equipment which results in highly suc- 

 cessful operations — all in use in the same 

 fishery. 



4) Assessment of fishing equipment and the 

 development of new equipment is 

 difficult without "hands on" experience 

 in the fishing industry. 



5) Established fishermen and boat operators 

 generally do not favor Government 

 development of new fishing technology. 



6) The industry generally prefers that the 

 Government limit itself to technology 

 transfer and information services rather 

 than massive financial or research sup- 

 port. 



The following discussion of future develop- 

 ments in the fishing industry is based on OTA 

 research on the west coast and in the New 

 England ground fishery. It is divided into 

 three areas which are key to improving the 

 overall picture of domestic fishing: 



1) stock enhancement (increasing the total 

 amount of product available to the 

 fishermen), 



2) creation of new markets for fish which 

 are not presently harvested by U.S. 

 fishermen because they are not a saleable 

 product, and 



3) methods of revitalizing the fishing indus- 

 try. 



Each of these areas is discussed in terms of 

 what will be necessary in order to develop 

 useful programs. 



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