BELL and KINOSHITA: GAINS IN U.S. FISHERIES 



Table 3. — Comparisons of the growth rate in labor pro- 

 ductivity for selected fisheries and countries. 



Fishery 



United 

 States 



Other 

 country 



Period' 



' Periods are different than shown in Table I because of lack 

 of data in foreign countries for earlier periods. 

 - Peruvian anchoveta. 

 ■' Canada. 

 ^ Canada. 



purposes, however, we do have some informa- 

 tion for the groundfish, menhaden, and lobsters 

 as shown in Table 3. For this limited sample, it 

 is quite apparent that U.S. fishermen are not 

 holding their own with their foreign counter- 

 parts in menhaden and groundfish. More 

 research is needed in this area. 



FACTORS BEHIND THE GROWTH 



IN LABOR PRODUCTIVITY 



IN FISHING 



Why has labor productivity increased at a 

 lower rate in fisheries than in competing sectors 

 such as meat and poultry? Has it been because 

 fishermen are technologically backward or are 

 not working harder? To answer these questions, 

 we have selected three fisheries for examination. 

 As indicated in the introduction, there are many 

 factors that influence the trends in the produc- 

 tivity of fishermen. Probably, there are two 

 important o])posing forces. First, fishermen 

 attempt to improve their technology, training, 

 and experience so that their capability to catch 

 fish will be enhanced. This tends to raise produc- 

 tivity. Second, the fishermen, unlike their coun- 

 terparts in agriculture, are characterized by 

 finite limitations to production. The buildup of 

 aggregate fishing effort (i.e., vessels, gear and 

 fishermen) tends to lower the productivity 

 (catch per unit of effort) of those fishing the 

 resource because more people share a fixed pie. 

 This is a paradoxical result in that improve- 

 ments in technology increase gear efficiency 

 but also increase effective fishing effort, which 

 in turn depresses the catch per unit of effort. 



Unless the level of effective fishing effort is con- 

 trolled (e.g., through limited entry and not 

 merely making gear less efficient or maintain- 

 ing constant gear efficiency), the fishermen will 

 remain on a constant treadmill attempting to 

 balance changes in technology against the finite 

 productivity of the resource. This is why fishery 

 management may be one of the more important 

 solutions to the problem. In addition there are 

 other factors that influence labor productivity 

 in the fisheries such as changes in the environ- 

 ment and institutional changes (e.g., gear regu- 

 lations). 



In an attempt to quantify the influence of 

 these important factors on labor productivity, 

 for each fishery we computed the statistical 

 relation between annual landings per fisherman 

 and the following factors: 



1. Aggregate fishing effort 



2. Fishing effort per fisherman 



3. Secular time trend 



4. Environmental factors 



5. Institutional or regulatory changes. 



It is hypothesized that increases in aggregate 

 fishing will depress productivity; increases in 

 fishing effort per worker (e.g., traps fished per 

 fisherman, standard days fished per fisherman, 

 or other gear used per fisherman) will increase 

 productivity; a secular time trend represents all 

 other factors such as changes in technology that 

 may raise productivity; environmental change 

 may either raise or lower productivity depend- 

 ing on individual factors; and regulatory 

 changes will hopefully raise productivity. 



Eastern Tropical Pacific 

 Yellowfin and Skipjack Tuna 



The fishery for tropical tunas in the eastern 

 Pacific Ocean developed shortly after the turn 

 of the century. The degree of exploitation in- 

 creased steadily as the U.S. fleet, which lands 

 the major portion of the catch, grew, and as the 

 fleets of Latin America and Japan developed. 

 Prior to 1959, the catch of yellowfin and skip- 

 jack tunas from the eastern tropical Pacific 

 Ocean was taken by bait fishing vessels that use 

 live bait and pole. After 1959, many fishermen 

 converted their bait vessels to purse seiners 



915 



