290 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



dined less than it did in the whole United States; that prices advanced to 

 such an extent that the percentage increase in gross money value of food fish 

 was a third greater in the Lakes than it was in the whole United States; that 

 the gross value per fisherman increased by a percentage greater than that of 

 the whole, or of any other statistical region, of the United States; and that 

 per fisherman the exchange value of fish for other goods increased in the 

 Lakes region more than it did anjrwhere else in the country. Scarcity in this 

 case does not appear to have been a calamity to the fisherman. Under the 

 operation of purely automatic economic forces the Lakes fisheries adjusted 

 and regulated themselves in these and several other respects and had far- 

 reaching reaction in stimulating the production of other fishes both in salt 

 water of both oceans and fresh water as far away as Lake Okeechobee, 

 Florida, as will be seen in the details of this report. 



What is needed is a clear understanding of the pattern of economic be- 

 havior generally which must be sought in the study of the fisheries of the 

 whole country and even of foreign countries. Such a study should try to 

 identify and measure the factors which fix the magnitude and determine the 

 internal and external competitive position of the fisheries as a source of 

 wealth and livelihood; it should try to discover the characteristics of the 

 market and their influence on the many local fisheries, and reveal sensitive 

 points at which action can bring about improvement. Above all, it should try 

 to find general and persistent regularities of behavior which will make it 

 possible to foresee in some measure the economic as well as biological effects 

 of whatever actions are taken in the making of public policy or in private 

 business. 



Strange as it may seem, the literature appears to contain few if any such 

 studies of fisheries economics. The Reports and Bulletins of the U. S. Fish 

 Commission founded in 1871, and its successor agencies, the Bureau of 

 Fisheries and the Fish & Wildlife Service, contain much useful descriptive 

 material on the catching, preparation, and marketing of fishery products, and 

 also the main body of available statistics; but no economic studies of the kind 

 above referred to are found therein or, so far as we know, anywhere else. 



Accordingly we have felt it advisable, at the risk of appearing to go far 

 beyond the terms of our undertaking in this Survey of the Marine Fisheries 

 of North Carolina, to make a beginning of such a study and to go as far with 

 it as our resources permit, and in the light of our findings to present what 

 economic data we have been able to assemble on North Carolina fisheries. 



This study of general fishery economics is, of course, based mostly on the 

 United States fisheries, with corroboration of some points by data on certain 

 foreign countries, and with emphasis on the smaller and more localized 

 fisheries. It consists of two main divisions, the first devoted to the description, 



