loans, however, and must be paid back with interest. The advantage of such 

 loans is their availability and lower interest rate. 



The licensing of commercial fishermen currently is not required in Flori- 

 da despite 5 years of attempts by commercial fishing organizations to pass 

 self-licensing regulations. Such a license would better identify full-time 

 and part-time commercial fishermen and would provide a revenue that might be 

 directed toward the solution of problems in the fishing industry such as 

 quality control . 



QUALITY CONTROL AND MARKETING 



Quality control is a serious concern of the industry and increasingly 

 strict regulations designed to protect the public health add to the cost of 

 seafood products. 



Although quality control codes generally are enforced by several State 

 and Federal agencies, enforcement often is inadequate. Some of the more pro- 

 gressive fishery companies employ their own quality control standards to 

 assure safe and high quality products. 



Although Florida boasts some of the largest and most modern seafood 

 plants in the Southeastern United States, a large portion of the fishing 

 industry consists of small operations. To increase fishery production and to 

 extend the markets more for underutilized species, an extensive marketing- 

 consumer promotion is required that is beyond the capacity of most members of 

 the fishing industry. To meet this need, the State of Florida has established 

 a seafood marketing-extension program supported by the industry through a 

 self-imposed production tax, Federal matching money, and State revenues. This 

 program emphasizes underutilized species. A new species source brings several 

 benefits. The development of new fisheries and new fish products often divert 

 fishing from traditional fisheries and reduce fishing intensity there. The 

 fish will sell at a lower price and more people will be hired by the industry. 

 One of the best examples is rock shrimp. Prior to an extensive marketing and 

 educational program, rock shrimp in the catches usually were discarded. Now 

 rock shrimp support a multimillion dollar fishery. 



Marketing successes in Florida led to the establishment of out-of-state 

 offices funded by the seafood and marketing extension program, and funds and 

 assistance from the Coastal Plains Regional Commission, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, and the Gulf and South Atlantic Fishery Development Foundation. 

 Their cooperative actions also have supported extensive seafood promotion in 

 the midwest. More recently international marketing of Florida and southeast- 

 ern U.S. seafood products has been highly successful and may possibly lead to 

 the establishment of a cooperative European office under the auspices of some 

 State or Federal agency. 



Limited Entry 



The production of some fish and shellfish appears to be at or near maxi- 

 mum sustained yield and has been for many years, but rapidly rising prices 

 have stimulated increasing competition for fish and individual catches and 

 profits have declined. In most fisheries, there are more fishing vessels and 



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