318 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



fishes from the same or different regions. Therefore, no one fish without 

 special appeal of its own, even if it is biologically scarce, can in price get 

 very far out of line with other fishes of similar quantity and attractiveness. 



It does not follow however that at any one place and time these alterna- 

 tive choices of fish can be caught with the same cost and effort. Any one 

 species may be at any one time scarce or abundant and therefore dear or 

 cheap relative to other fishes. Fishermen exercise such freedom as they 

 have of choice of methods, time, and place of capture, always seeking the 

 abundant fish that can be caught cheaply and sold at a good price in 

 preference to those which are for the time being scarce or out of season or 

 cheap. Also, fishermen are in competition with each other, each always 

 seeking to exploit opportunities that are neglected by others. 



The haddock fishery in New England became very popular in the early 

 and middle 1920's, rising to a peak of production in 1928 of about four 

 times what it was in 1922. The fishery then began to diminish in productivity 

 with corresponding increase in cost, whether from heavy fishing or natural 

 fluctuation. A considerable part of the effort that had been expended on 

 catching haddock was now turned to the pursuit of rosefish, which up to 

 that time had been neglected, and the production of which increased enor- 

 mously in the next few years. For similar reasons the production of flounders 

 and soles and whiting of New England has been increasing in recent years. 

 The total production of these three species or groups in 1887 in New Eng- 

 land amounted to 2j^ million pounds worth $62,000 (less than one per cent 

 of the quantity and value); in 1945 they amounted to 271 milKon pounds 

 valued at $11,500,000, or 32 per cent of the quantity of all fish and 20 

 per cent of the value. On the North Carolina coast the shrimp fishery was 

 small for many years until in the middle 1940's with the increasing popu- 

 larity of shrimp and prevailing high prices many of the fishermen in North 

 Carolina went into the shrimp fishery. The result was a large increase in 

 the jdeld of shrimp in North Carolina. 



Changes in demand likewise react through prices in the primary markets 

 to stimulate or depress the production of particular species. For example, 

 the fading of demand for salt fish and the development of the fillet caused 

 codfish to decline and haddock to rise in price with corresponding decline 

 in production of the one and increase in the other. Production, prices, and 

 total value of mackerel have also decreased, presumably for the same 

 reason. A decline in price and production of oysters (up to 1940) coincided 

 with a rise in price and production of shrimp, suggesting not a shortage of 

 oysters (which would have caused a rise in price), nor abundance of shrimp 

 (which would have caused a drop in price), but an increase in the demand 

 for shrimp and a decline in the demand for oysters. 



In all this is seen a characteristic behavior of the fisheries under heavy 



