FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 79, NO. 2 



U.S. fishermen are restricted by law to using only 

 U.S. built vessels for fishing related activities, any 

 domestic floating processors are likely to be either 

 new vessels or extensive conversions, both of 

 which may be cost prohibitive. On the other hand, 

 distant water fishing nations, faced with increas- 

 ing area and quota restrictions, may have factory 

 vessels which are receiving less than optimal use 

 (Kaczynski and LeVieil^^). For this reason, inter- 

 national joint fishing ventures may be the only 

 viable option for potential domestic groundfish 

 trawlers in western Alaska in the near future. 

 Although it has been argued that international 

 joint fishing ventures may hinder the development 

 of domestic land-based processors (Sullivan and 

 Heggelund 1979), and the long-term net benefits to 

 the domestic industry as a whole may be negative 

 ( Gorham footnote 2) , the immediate benefits to the 

 U.S. fishermen involved are positive. 



CONCLUSIONS 



On the basis of the economic model and assump- 

 tions applied in this study it was shown that: 



in fuel price for both the sea delivery and land 

 delivery mode of operation. However, it is slightly 

 less critical for the sea delivery mode. Each in- 

 crease of $0,026/1 ($0.10/gal) should lead to an in- 

 crease of $6/t in the break-even ex- vessel price for 

 a vessel similar to type 1 delivering at sea (distance 

 to grounds = 75 nmi) and averaging 10 t/d. For the 

 same vessel delivering to port, such an increase in 

 fuel price should lead to an increase in $8/t in the 

 required ex-vessel price. 



4) Fuel efficiencies (weight offish caught per 

 volume of fuel consumed) were 28 '/f higher for 

 vessel type 2 (25-28 m) than for vessel type 1 (33 

 m), and were about 359c higher for both vessels for 

 sea delivery than for port delivery. 



5) U.S. fishermen operating vessel types simi- 

 lar to the 33 m crabber/trawler and the 25 m 

 trawler considered in this analysis may find it 

 economically attractive to participate in joint fish- 

 ing ventures for groundfish in the western Gulf of 

 Alaska and the eastern Bering Sea given the ex- 

 vessel prices currently being offered by the joint 

 venture companies and the large volumes offish in 

 which these companies are interested. 



1) Delivering the catch at sea via detachable cod 

 ends is more economically efficient for U.S. fish- 

 ermen than landing the catch in port. This is par- 

 ticularly true of fisheries for species with high 

 spoilage rates, such as walleye pollock. The cost 

 savings in this analysis amounted to over 30% and 

 derive primarily from the following factors: 



a) Fewer crew members are required when 

 delivering the catch at sea. 



b) A much higher percentage of the season 

 can be devoted to trawling time when de- 

 livering to a sea-based processor. 



c) Less fuel per season is spent running back 

 to port, thus the fuel efficiency is greater 

 when delivering the catch at sea. 



These cost savings apply whether fishing for an 

 international joint fishing venture or delivering 

 the catch to a domestic floating processor. 



2) Increasing the distance to the fishing 

 grounds, while largely affecting the economic effi- 

 ciency if delivering to port, had little effect if deliv- 

 ering at sea. 



3) The relationship between catch rate and 

 break-even ex-vessel price is sensitive to increases 



It was considered feasible for these U.S. vessels 

 to attain average catch rates sufficiently high to 

 cover the fixed and variable costs of fishing under 

 each of three fishing targeting strategies in which 

 the target stocks are: 1) Pacific cod and walleye 

 pollock in the western Gulf of Alaska, 2) sole in the 

 eastern Bering Sea, and 3) walleye pollock in the 

 Aleutians area. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I would like to thank S. Jaeger, V. Kaczynski, 

 and G. M. Pigott for contributing helpful informa- 

 tion and suggestions during the development of 

 this paper. Thanks are also due to D. Somerton and 

 L. J. Bledsoe for their helpful critiques. 



The research for this paper was supported by the 

 University of Washington Sea Grant Program 

 (Grant No. NA-79-AA-00054) through subgrants 

 extended to the Institute for Marine Studies 

 (Grant No. R/MS-6) and the Norfish Research 

 Group (Grant No. R/F-9). 



LITERATURE CITED 



^^Kaczynski, W, and D. LeVieil. 1980. International joint 

 ventures in world fisheries. Their distribution and devel- 

 opment. Wash. Sea Grant Rep. 80-2, 33 p. 



North Pacific Fishery Management Council. 



1978a. Fishery management plan for the Gulf of Alaska 

 groundfish fishery during 1978. North Pacific Fishery 



312 



