PREFACE 



This report contains a review of U.S. commercial fishery statistics for the calendar year 1975. 

 These statistics include data on the volume and value of landed catches, employment, quantity of gear 

 operated, and number of fishing craft. Also included are data on the volume and value of production of 

 processed fishery products, freezings and cold storage holdings, and foreign trade in fishery commodities. 



Landings data do not include production of artificially cultivated fish or shellfish, except oysters. 

 Landings data include neither the marine or freshwater catches made for sport or personal use including those 

 by Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians, nor landings by foreign fishing vessels in U.S. ports, nor imports. They 

 include landings made by U.S. fishing vessels at foreign ports for transshipment to the United States under 

 bond or as "Products of American Fisheries." 



Unless otherwise noted, landings data are only for the 50 States. Landings in Puerto Rico are shown 

 separately in Section 11. Data on production of processed products are for the 50 States, Puerto Rico, and 

 American Samoa. 



Weights in all of the U.S. landings tables in this report, except the one entitled, "U.S. Landings, 

 1975-Live Weight Basis," are in round (live) weight, excluding weight of shells. Weights shown for univalve 

 and bivalve mollusks (conchs, clams, oysters, scallops, et al.) represent the weights of meats. The weight of 

 shells omitted from the catch in 1975 was about 1.2 billion pounds. It should be noted, however, that the data 

 in the table "World Landings of Fish, Crustaceans, Mollusks, et al., by Countries" are shown on a live weight 

 basis with shell weights included. 



Values of the landings are gross dollar returns to the fishermen, and are known as "exvessel prices." 

 The values shown for the processed fishery products are the gross amounts received by the producer at the 

 production point; no deductions are made for commission or expenses. 



All appropriate records coOected by the various State fishery agencies were used in assembling data 

 on the fisheries. In certain areas, information complete enough to be used by the statistical agents was 

 available from State agencies, and in these States, only partial surveys were made. Information on the means 

 of collecting the data and an explanation of terms used may be found in Section 14 of this publication. 



Complete statistical surveys covering the fisheries of the United States were made by the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service in aU areas for 1970-75. The first complete survey of the fisheries of the United 

 States was made by the Bureau of Census for 1908. Others were made by the Bureau of Fisheries and the Fish 

 and WildUfe Service for the years 1931, 1950, 1954-60, and 1962-69. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The data in this edition of "Fishery Statistics of the United States" were collected in cooperation 

 with the various States and tabulated by the staff of the Resource Statistics Division under the direction of 

 Joseph Pileggi and B.C. Thompson. The material was prepared for publication by Thelma 1. Bell. Field 

 Surveys were supervised by the various regional and area offices. Program leaders in charge of field surveys 

 were: Francis Riley, New England, Middle Atlantic, Chesapeake, Great Lakes and northern Mississippi River 

 States; E. E. Burgess, South Atlantic, Gulf, and southern Mississippi River States; James R. Bybee, California; 

 John K. Bishop, Washington and Oregon; Kaysa A. Stutte, Alaska; and Robert T. B. Iverson, Hawaii. 



The cooperation of the many contributors is gratefully acknowledged. Contributors are given credit 

 for their information in the section of the report in which the data appear. 



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