PRODUCTIVITY GAINS IN U.S. FISHERIES 



Frederick W. Bell and Richard K. Kinoshita' 



ABSTRACT 



Changes in productivity or annual landings per fisherman help to determine the economic 

 welfare of the fishing industry. Although a study of productivity gains in various U.S. fishing 

 fleets over the last 20 yr showed variations between fisheries, many sectors of the fishing 

 industry experienced substantial increases in labor productivity in recent years. Of the 17 

 fisheries studied, 11 exhibited positive trends in output (landings) per fisherman. A produc- 

 tivity index was constructed which indicated that, in the aggregate, fishing labor productivity 

 increased by approximately 2.5% per year during the 1950-69 period, compared with 3% for 

 the entire U.S. economy. Upon comparison of the fishing industry with those of meat and 

 poultry, the fisheries' chief competitors, it was shown that labor productivity advances in the 

 U.S. fishing industry were the lowest. A similar analysis for selected foreign fishing sectors 

 revealed that the United States had fallen behind other countries with respect to productivity 

 gains. A detailed quantitative study of three selected fisheries showed that increases in aggre- 

 gate fishing pressure significantly reduced labor productivity; however, this force was more 

 than offset by increases in fishing effort per worker and technological progress in many 

 fisheries. The quantitative impact of environmental, technological, and regulatory factors 

 was also identified. 



The growth in productivity or annual landings 

 per fisherman is an important determinant of 

 the economic welfare for the U.S. fishing indus- 

 try.- Small or negative productivity gains in a 

 fishery are often associated with lagging profits, 

 wages, and employment because U.S. fishermen 

 must compete with foreign fishery imports and 

 other protein substitutes where productivity is 

 a main ingredient of competitive advantage. 

 Moreover, rising productivity in the fishery 

 sector has helped reduce inflationary tendencies 

 that have been most prevalent in meat and fish 

 products. Productivity gains, in the long run, 

 raise standards of living or reduce the amount 

 of time we must work to produce a pound offish 

 or a television set or an automobile. 



Generally, gains in productivity are deter- 

 mined by the increasing efficiency of our vessels 

 and gear; the education, training, experience, 

 and morale of our fishermen; and, of course, the 



condition of the fishery stock and other environ- 

 mental factors. 



This article will survey the gains in produc- 

 tivity experienced by various U.S. fishing fleets 

 over the last two decades. Comparisons will be 

 made between gains in fishing productivity and 

 those in competing sectors. We shall also 

 explore some of the reasons behind the gains in 

 productivity for selected fisheries. 



LABOR PRODUCTIVITY TRENDS IN 

 SELECTED U.S. FISHERIES 



Before we discuss productivity trends in 

 selected U.S. fisheries, it will be instructive to 

 look at the statistical definition of labor produc- 

 tivity that will be employed in this article. 

 Productivity or annual landings per fisherman 

 is obtained by dividing aggregate landings (for 

 a year) by the number of fishermen employed.^ 



' Economic Research Division, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, NOAA. Washington. D.C. 20235. 



■' Productivity is usually measured in terms of output 

 per man-hour. These data are not available for the U.S. 

 fishing industry; we must therefore rely on annual 

 landings per fisherman as a rough measure. 



Manuscript accepted May 1973. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VoL 7L No. 4. 1973. 



■* As economists define it, productivity is simply a ratio 

 of physical output to physical input. Higher productivity 

 means getting more output with the same effort or the 

 same output with less effort. "Total-factor productivity" 

 can be calculated by dividing output by a figure that rep- 

 resents all the resources used, including plant and equip- 

 ment, labor, and land. Theoretically, this is the true mea- 



911 



