BELL and KINOSHITA: GAINS IN U.S. FISHERIES 



through interviews, while fishermen on boats 

 (craft of less than 5 net tons) are obtained from 

 State conservation agencies through licensing 

 and by contract with firms purchasing fish or 

 shellfish from fishermen. 



Except for problems of duplication brought 

 about by fishermen and fishing craft shifting 

 from one fishery to another and from one region 

 to another, the Division of Statistics and Market 

 News report data on total numbers are very 

 reliable. Problems arise when one is interested 

 in the time spent in fishing by fishermen and 

 their craft. The number of hours, days, weeks, 

 or months worked is not reported. Most fisheries 

 are highly seasonal, lasting as little as several 

 weeks, while others are year around, although 

 they may have seasonal peaks. 



Except for Pacific halibut, the number of 

 fishermen is the total number engaged in fishing 

 regardless of the fishing craft employed, and 

 length of employment. In most areas, fishermen 

 not on vessels have been divided into regular 

 and casual. Regular fishermen are defined as 

 those who receive more than one-half their 

 annual income from fishing, whereas casual 



are those who receive less than one-half their 

 earnings from fishing. It has not been possible to 

 separate regular from casual fishermen on the 

 Pacific coast. When information on casual or 

 part-time fishermen was available, the ratio of 

 part-time to full-time fishermen was tested by 

 including it as an independent variable in "ex- 

 plaining" changes in labor productivity. The 

 variable was significant in only two fisheries, 

 indicating the higher percent of part-time fish- 

 ermen tended to lower annual landings per 

 fishermen. 



Therefore, although the employment figures 

 are somewhat less than optimal and the reader 

 should be warned against many of these data 

 problems, the rate of growth in labor produc- 

 tivity published in this article is probably fairly 

 accurate. For a further discussion of these pro- 

 blems, the reader may write the Economic Re- 

 search Division, National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce, 

 Washington, D.C. 20235 for a draft manuscript 

 entitled "The Measurement and Analysis of 

 Labor Productivity Changes in United States 

 Fisheries." 



919 



