FISHERY BULLETIN VOL. 72, NO. 1 



fee of $3.34 (in 1972 dollars) on each lobster 

 trap fished. This is shown in Table 2. The reg- 

 ulatory authority would collect over $3.5 mil- 

 lion in license fee revenue which could be used 

 to finance resource research, enforcement, and 

 surveillance. It should be emi)hasized that 

 these calculations are merely rough estimates 

 and only serve to give the reader some idea of 

 the magnitude of such license fee. The illustra- 

 tive license fee is also based upon an extra- 

 polation of trends 5 yr ahead of 1969. If we 

 did nothing, it is estimated that the catch would 

 be lower and more fishermen and traps would 

 be employed in the fishery by 1974. Obviously, 

 the situation would worsen as demand for lob- 

 sters expanded and the fishery became increas- 

 ingly overfished. The license fee plan does have 

 many disadvantages. First, a license fee on 

 traps fished does not really get at the utilization 

 rate. One might expect that a license fee on an 

 individual trap might induce fishermen to fish 

 each trap more intensively and thereby reduce 

 their number of traps. At this point, we do not 

 have any information on utilization rates 

 whereby the tax could be adjusted upward if 

 utilization increased. Second, enforcement and 

 surveillance might be difficult along the coast- 

 line from Maine to North Carolina. Third, 



and most important, the quantitative tools and 

 projected figures needed to calculate a license 

 fee are at best crude and would have to be used 

 for calculations each year. 



2. Reduce the existing level of fishing effort 

 to that necessary to liarvest MSY by placing a 

 Hcoise fee on traps: With this scheme, the 

 regulatory authority would calculate a license 

 fee on traps which would reduce the level of 

 existing effort to that necessary to harvest maxi- 

 mum sustainable yield (i.e., estimated to be 

 about 1,011,910 traps) despite an increase in 

 demand for lobsters.-''^ Because we are actually 

 reducing fishing effort as opposed to freezing it 

 at the 1969 level, the estimated 1974 license 

 fee per trap must be higher or $5.58 (in 1972 

 dollars). Actual catch will not be significantly 

 higher. The regulatory authority would receive 

 approximately $5.6 million in license fee reven- 

 nue. However, this plan has the same disadvan- 

 tages of a general license fee plan indicated 

 under alternative one. 



3. Reduce the existi)ig level of fishing effort 

 to that )iecessarjj to make the marginal cost of 



33 The fishing effort needed to harvest MSY was ob- 

 tained from equation (23) with the 1950-69 average 

 water temperature. 



Table 2. — The impact of various management schemes imposed on the inshore American lobster fishery in 1974. 



' Projection of 1974 impact of selected management strategies. Assumes that F° = 48°; Y = $677.9 billion, (1969 prices); POP = 

 212.4 million; Qo + / = 183.6 million pounds and fi = $15,292. All prices and dollar values projected for 1974 ore expressed 

 in 1972 dollars. 



^ The license fee per vessel was obtained by multiplying the tax per trap by the average number of traps (562.8) fished per 

 full-time vessel. 



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