FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 87, NO. 2, 1989 



Formation of fixed prices and informal contracting 

 occur between some processors and harvesters, but 

 flexibility nonetheless exists in the fixed price nego- 

 tiated prior to harvesting so that stochastic fluctua- 

 tions in the size, quality, and composition of land- 

 ings are accommodated. While wholesalers can be 

 strung out along the coast, seemingly in a strong 

 position to offer noncompetitive prices to vessels, 

 competition is nonetheless stronger than initially 

 appears among wholesalers and processors, and 

 harvesters always have the option to land in dif- 

 ferent ports if they feel that prices are monop- 

 sonistic. In Alaska, approximately 5-7 processors 

 handle the bulk of Alaska's products, although there 

 are at least 50 processors in total. Complete Alaska 

 price data were only available from 1984 through 

 1986. 



Japanese prices were adjusted for inflation by the 

 use of the Japanese Consumer Price Index. Japa- 

 nese prices were converted to U.S. dollars after ad- 



justing for the yen-dollar exchange rate. Japanese 

 prices were further converted from kilograms to 

 pounds. U.S. prices were adjusted for inflation by 

 the GNP implicit price deflator. Japanese prices are 

 for eastern dressed weights and U.S. prices corre- 

 spond to round weight, but the empirical results 

 should be unaffected because of a constant adjust- 

 ment rate between the two product forms. 



EMPIRICAL RESULTS 



Figure 1 depicts the Tokyo wholesale and the 

 Alaska and Pacific coast ex-vessel sablefish prices 

 by month over the time periods 1984-86 and 1981- 

 86, respectively. All prices are in constant dollars 

 per pound, although as noted above, the Tokyo 

 prices correspond to eastern dressed weight and 

 the U.S. prices correspond to round weight. The 

 figure indicates that the Tokyo wholesale prices are 

 generally more stable than the ex-vessel prices. The 



TOKYO WHOLESALE AND ALASKAN AND PACIFIC 



COAST EX-VESSEL SABLEFISH PRICES, 1981-1986 



 TOKYO WHOLESALE 

 o ALASKAN FIXED GEAR 

 o PACIFIC COAST FIXED 



© 



1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

 15 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 



MONTH 



Figure 1.— Tokyo wholesale and Alaska and Pacific coast ex-vessel sablefish prices. 



346 



