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is unrealistic to use current prices to evaluate future 

 harvests because of the elasticity of prices in response to 

 increased or decreased supply. On the other hand, it is not 

 possible to project future prices at such levels without 

 making so many assumptions about demand variables as to 

 defeat the reliability of the exercise. Valuing shares of 

 shares of potential harvests using 1978 prices would be 

 inaccurate in forecasting actual values at these potential 

 levels since price is a function of numerous variables. To 

 make any prediction of actual future prices would require 

 separate sets and subsets of assumptions about each variable, 

 each set and subset making the end result more tenuous and 

 less reliable than the last. However, assuming that the 

 values of the various species in relation to each other 

 remain approximately the same over time, valuing potential 

 shares at average 1978 ex-vessel prices illustrates relative 

 benefits to each country. Even so, existing relative values 

 of the various species are themselves likely to be affected 

 by demand and supply in the market place, but exactly how 

 they will be affected is impossible to predict. Therefore, 

 the long term values estimated below should be taken only as 

 a general indication of potential changes in relative distri- 

 bution of benefits, and not as a forecast of projected actual 

 revenues. 



