ticular subsidized imports have caused declin- 

 ing production in the United States, 

 unemployment, or decreased markets for U.S. 

 products. Therefore, large corporations with 

 experienced tariff attorneys are frequently 

 successful in winning their cases, and small 

 industries and fishing groups which generally 

 develop their own cases are less successful or 

 are discouraged from making a request. 



To date, in spite of the urging of fishermen, 

 no overall review of duties on subsidized fish 

 imports has been made in order to determine 

 how the U.S. fishing industry in general is 

 affected. Such a review would allow investors 

 to assess the competition from foreign prod- 

 ucts accurately before putting money into 

 vessels or other fishing operations. Some 

 Regional Council members feel that encourag- 

 ing U.S. interests to invest in the fishing in- 

 dustry is unrealistic and counterproductive 

 until such basic assessments can be made. 



In addition, there has been a general decline 

 in some fisheries which has been evident in 

 terms of technology and investment, employ- 

 ment and income, productivity and profit. 



To provide some insight into conditions of 

 technology in the fishing industry, OTA infor- 

 mally surveyed fishermen on the west coast 

 about their gear and sources of technical in- 

 formation. The survey consisted of a short 

 questionnaire which was included with other 

 materials distributed by the Eastland Resolu- 

 tion Fisheries Survey group at their west coast 

 meetings. About 100 fishermen from a variety 

 of fisheries responded to the questions. 



The survey showed that nearly all crabbers, 

 aquaculturists, and charter -boat operators 

 considered their gear the best available for 

 their operation; a majority of the troUers and 

 seiners were equally confident about the 



Figure 25 



Fishermen's Opinions of Their Gear 



Source: OTA 



quality of their gear; and half or slightly more 

 of the tuna, bottom, swordfish, and recrea- 

 tional fishermen were satisfied. Gillnetters 

 and trawlers reported very low levels of 

 satisfaction, indicating that improvement in 

 their gear is badly needed. Figure 25 illustrates 

 responses to the question of whether gear was 

 satisfactory. Several specific types of needed 

 improvements were cited: 



. better nets for groundfish; 

 • better gillnets; 



101 



