FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO.3 



TABLE 5. — Number of permits required to produce reasonable 

 returns assuming the total annual income from all sources of 

 fishermen is equal to the average earnings of nonfarm wage and 

 salaried workers in Alaska in 1973. Nonfarm wage and salaried 

 workers earned $12,072 in 1973. 



Fishery 



No. of permits required 



to provide total annual 



income of $12,072 



Present no 

 of permits 



395 

 238 



68 

 368 



80 

 111 



453 

 511 

 545 

 155 

 1,669 



150 

 32 



686 



183 

 77 



803 



895 



'Reasonable returns can be achieved with the present number of entry 

 permits. 



Reasonable returns cannot be achieved with a 45% reduction in entry 

 permits. 



Comparison With Estimates Provided 

 by Fishermen 



In addition to the two measures discussed so far, 

 as part of a survey fishermen were asked to esti- 

 mate what they needed to gross from fishing in a 

 particular year in order to earn a reasonable re- 

 turn (Owers 1974). In Table 6 the mean value of 

 responses for each fishery is shown with the cor- 

 responding number of entry permits that would 

 yield an equal level of gross earnings. 



In the power troll fishery, all the set gill net 

 fisheries with the exception of the Alaska Penin- 

 sula, the drift gill net fisheries in Prince William 

 Sound and Cook Inlet, and the Cook Inlet purse 

 seine fishery, it would not be possible to earn a 

 level of earnings considered reasonable by fisher- 

 men with even a 45% reduction in entry permits. 



Several other fisheries would need some reduc- 

 tion in the amount of gear. The purse seine 

 fisheries in southeastern, Chignik, and the Alaska 

 Peninsula appear capable of earning a reasonable 

 return with either the present number of entry 

 permits or a slight reduction. 



SUMMARY BY FISHERY OF 

 THE COMPARISONS USED 



TABLE 6. — Number of permits required to produce reasonable 

 returns assuming expected gross earnings equal necessary gross 

 earnings as estimated by fishermen. 



No. of permits 



required to 

 provide equal Present 

 level of no of 



Fishery (thousands) earnings permits 



Reasonable gross 



return estimated 



by fishermen 



(thousands) 



Purse seine: 



Southeastern 



Prince Wm Sound 



Cook Inlet 



Kodiak 



Chignik 



Peninsula-Aleutians 

 Drift gill net: 



Southeastern 



Prince Wm Sound 



Cook Inlet 



Peninsula-Aleutians 



Bristol Bay 

 Set gill net: 



Yakutat 



Prince Wm Sound 



Cook Inlet 



Kodiak 



Peninsula-Aleutians 



Bristol Bay 

 Power troll: 



Statewide 



$31.9 

 26.9 

 24.2 

 32.8 

 39.5 

 12.2 



22.6 

 19.6 

 14.5 

 17.9 

 16.4 



14.9 



14.9 

 14.9 

 11.1 

 7.8 

 12.4 



15.3 



2 492 



895 



'Reasonable returns can be achieved with the present number of entry 

 permits. 



Reasonable returns cannot be achieved with a 45% reduction in entry 

 permits. 



parisons used provide an estimate of the optimum 

 number of entry permits that falls within a fairly 

 narrow range. The following summarizes the 

 economic performance by type of fishery. 



Purse Seine 



Purse seining in general appears to be the most 

 economically viable of the four types of salmon 

 gear fished. This is due in part to the fact that 

 purse seiners are used in a variety of fisheries, 

 which allows overhead expenses to be spread, and 

 minimizes risks in any one fishery. As can be seen 

 in Table 1, this is particularly true of the purse 

 seine fisheries in the Alaska Peninsula and south- 

 eastern Alaska where a substantial percentage of 

 gross earnings comes from other fisheries. The 

 Prince William Sound and Kodiak purse seine 

 fisheries could justify a modest reduction, al- 

 though income levels would be only slightly re- 

 duced with the present maximum number. The 

 Cook Inlet purse seine fishery, which is restricted 

 to a hand purse seine fishery, does not appear able 

 to provide a reasonable return with the present 

 number of entry permits under any of the criteria. 



Drift Gill Net 



It will be noticed in Table 7 that the three com- 

 490 



Unlike the purse seine fishery, the typical vessel 



