326 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



tempered and restrained by their competition with one another both in 

 attracting the shipper's offerings and in their sales to the retail trade. 



c. Coastal Dealers. Apart from the organized markets at great production 

 centers, a residue of smaller fisheries in communities scattered on long coast 

 lines must be provided with immediate primary markets for local fishermen. 

 Such markets are usually individuals or small companies who receive the fish 

 and ice, pack, ship, and sell in the various markets, and sometimes fillet, 

 freeze, and store. Some are aggressive merchants who sell to distant whole- 

 salers, retailers, hotels, etc., extend credit and finance the sales, fillet, freeze, 

 and perform all appropriate services, including mere forwarding to commis- 

 sion houses. In fact, when we have in view the nature of their problems of 

 dealing with a highly fluctuating supply of perishable produce, competing in 

 a market everywhere characterized by gluts and scarcities, without quality 

 standards and with generally weak credits and inadequate market informa- 

 tion, the local dealer is often by necessity an opportunist, disposing wherever 

 he can of the current production which comes to his hands. Some dealers 

 operate retail fish shops or even restaurants. They often own boats or shares 

 in them; they often advance credit to fishermen for gasoline, bait, ice, provi- 

 sions and living expenses and usually require in return the right to receive 

 and sell all the fisherman's catch, all or part of the proceeds to apply against 

 the loan until it is paid. 



Excessive charges by shore dealers made possible by this advance of credit 

 and other devices may have a far-reaching effect on the whole production- 

 distribution chain. By returning artificially low prices for fish, fishing as an 

 occupation is made less remunerative, fishermen tend to be restricted to 

 those of marginal ability, and the region where this is done is placed at a price 

 disadvantage with respect to other communities where prices are competi- 

 tively arrived at. The large margins to dealers attract more people into deal- 

 ing, so that as fishermen are decreased in numbers, the number of dealers 

 increases. On the marketing side, the large margin taken by the shore dealer 

 leaves too little for subsequent wholesalers and retailers and final prices 

 higher than necessary tend to restrict volume retail sales. Thus, both produc- 

 tion and final sales are discouraged and the volume handled is smaller than 

 it might otherwise be. Small volume in turn inevitably means high unit cost 

 of distribution, which is perhaps the supreme economic problem of the fishing 

 industry. 



The terms on which the shore dealer settles with the fishermen vary. Some- 

 times he buys outright; sometimes he sells for the fisherman on commission; 

 sometimes he simply takes the fish on indefinite terms and settles later at a 

 price to be determined by his sales. When he ships to a city commission 

 market he may receive cash settlement before he settles with the fisherman, 

 in which case the first price is made in the city commission market; the fisher- 



