Thus, using average 1978 Monroe County dockside prices, computed by the 

 National Marine Fihseries Service, the reported 1978 catch in Boundary 

 Option #2 was 28% and worth $755,690 or $7,556.90 or $7,556.90/ per 

 boat/per year. Based on information on total landings (100%) in the 

 area, boats could be expected to earn approximately $27,000, average 

 annual income. (Table 2) (Table 3) 



Of the $755,690 earned in Boundary Option #2, 61.7 percent came from 

 lobster trapping, 14.5 percent from wire fish trapping, 17.7 percent 

 from hook and line fishing, 5.6 percent from netting and 5 percent from 

 trapping stone crab. 



These fishermen, however, do more than just sell fish. They buy food, 

 gasoline, supplies for their boats. Their activities generate other 

 activities. The income generation process is usually called the multiplier 

 process. Each initial increase in income (in this case, sales of fish) 

 will magnify itself throughout the economy and the final increase will 

 be a number of times greater than the initial increase. The gross output 

 regional multiplier for forestry and fish products in the Miami Economic 

 Area of the Bureau of Economic Analysis is 1.914. (BEA, Regional Economic 

 Analysis Division, USDC, 1977). No forestry occurs in this region so this 

 multiplier should be fairly accurate for fishing. This regional multiplier 

 indicates the "regional" impact of the sales of fish. The impact after 

 the fish have been moved from the area for distribution, etc., is not 

 counted. The total economic impact of the fish at final sale will be 

 greater than 1.914. However, not all this impact is felt in the area of 

 catch, thus the regional multiplier should be appropriate. Using the 

 economic value of the commercial fishing in Boundary Option #2, the 

 economic effect of the fishing effort there, using the regional multiplier 

 is $1,445,390. 



b. Commercial Recreational and Educational Businesses 



The interview schedules to gather information about this group went largely 

 unanswered because of the low response rate, only revenue from the commercial 

 dive boat operations in the commercial business catagory were calculated in the 

 economic study. 



Revenue from dive charter boats was estimated from the onsite survey to 

 be $250,000 and appears to be the major income, outside of commercial fishing 

 in the Looe Key area. Other income producing businesses were not accounted 

 for in the Survey, such as marinas and fishing lodges rent boats and equipment. 



C-5 



