PREFACE 



FISHERIES OF TH E UNITED STATES. 1996 « 



This publication is a preliminary report for 1996 on 

 commercial and recreational fisheries of the United 

 States with catches in both the U.S. and foreign Exclusive 

 Economic Zones (EEZ). This annual report provides timely 

 answers to frequently asked questions. 



SOURCES OF DATA 



Information In this report came from many sources. 

 Field offices of the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 (NMFS). in cooperation with various States, collected and 

 compiled data on U.S. commercial landings and 

 processed fishery products. The NMFS Fisheries Statistics 

 and Economics Division in Silver Spring. MD. managed the 

 collection and compilation of recreational statistics, and 

 tabulated and prepared all data for publication. Sources 

 of other data appearing in this publication are: U.S. 

 Bureau of the Census. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. 

 Coast Guard, U.S. Customs Service. U.S. Department of 

 the Interior, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 

 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United 

 Nations. 



PRELIMINARY AND FINAL DATA 



Data on U.S. commercial and recreational landings, 

 employment, prices, and production of processed 

 products are preliminary for 1996. Final data will be 

 published In other NMFS Current Fishery Statistics 



publications. 



The Fisheries Statistics Division of NMFS takes this 

 opportunity to thank members of states, industry, and 

 foreign nations who provided the data that made this 

 publication possible. 



Program leaders of the field offices were: Gregory 

 Power. New England. Middle Atlantic, and Chesapeake; 

 Tony Frank, National Biological Service Science Center, 

 Great Lakes States; Nelson Johnson, Guy Davenport, 

 and Margot Hightower for the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States; Patricia J. Donley, California and Hawaii; John K. 

 Bishop, Oregon and Washington; and Patsy Bearden. 

 Alaska. 



NOTES 



The time series of U.S. catch by species and 

 distance from shore Included In this year's "Fisheries of 



the U.S." is estimated by the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service. 



As in past issues of this publication, the units of 

 quantity and value are defined as follows: U.S. landings 

 are shown In round weight (except mollusks which are In 

 meat weight), unless otherwise noted; quantities shown 

 for U.S. imports and exports are In product weight, as 

 reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, unless 

 otherwise noted; the value of the U.S. domestic 

 commercial catch Is exvessel (In the Review Section on 

 important species actual and deflated exvessel prices 

 are shown. The deflated value was computed using the 

 Gross Domestic Products Implicit Price Deflator); the 

 value for U.S. Imports is generally the market value in the 

 foreign (exporting) country and. therefore, excludes U.S. 

 import duties, freight charges from the foreign country to 

 the United States, and Insurance; the value for exports is 

 generally the value at the U.S. port of export, based on 

 the selling price. Including Inland freight, insurance, and 

 other charges. Countries and territories shown in the U.S. 

 foreign trade section are established for statistical 

 purposes In the Tariff Schedules of the United States 

 Annotated (International Trade Commission) and 

 reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. 



SUGGESTIONS 



The Fisheries Statistics Division wishes to provide the 

 kinds of data sought by users of fishery statistics, and 

 welcomes any comments or suggestions that will Improve 

 this publication. 



Address all comments or questions to: 



Fisheries Statistics and Economics Division, (F/ST1) 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 

 1315 East-West Highway - Rm. 12340 

 Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 

 PHONE: 301-713-2328 

 FAX: 301-713-4137 



Members of the Fisheries Statistics Division in Silver 

 Spring, who helped with this publication were: Darryl 

 Bullock, Josanne Fabian, Tom Ferris, Karen Foster, Amy 

 Gautam, Ray Glass, Gerry Gray, Deborah Hogans, Mark 

 Holliday, Steven Koplln, Steve Myers, Barbara O'Bannon, 

 Maury Osborn, Uz Pritchard, Ron Salz, Warren Schlechte. 

 Dick Schween. David Sutherland, Glen Taylor, William 

 Uftley. David Van Voorhees. John Ward, and Leila Wise. 



