ECONOMICS OF THE FISHERIES 415 



that the peak was reached in about that period, though per capita produc- 

 tion had already been declining for twenty years or more.^^ 



The history of production, values, and prices of oysters in the Atlantic- 

 Gulf regions is recapitulated in more detail in Table 2 1 , on which the follow- 

 ing observations are made: 



1. In only one region (Gulf) did total quantity of production increase in 

 the latest over the earliest period (+86 per cent). This region shows the 

 greatest decrease in price of all the regions (—32 per cent in actual price, 

 —53 per cent in 1926 money price). 



2. Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions show intermediate declines 

 in volume ( — 51 per cent and —34 per cent respectively) between earliest 

 and latest periods; these regions show little change in actual prices (0 per 

 cent and +4.8 per cent) and intermediate declines in 1926 money prices 

 (—27 per cent and —28 per cent). 



3. The region to show the greatest decrease in production of all regions 

 (—67 per cent), Chesapeake, shows the least adverse (except New England) 

 percentage change in price between earliest and latest periods ( + 25 per 

 cent actual, —16 per cent in 1926 money). 



4. New England appears in its almost constant 1926 money price to have 

 been most successful between earliest and latest periods in adjusting its 

 marketing operations to current demand (quantity —50 per cent; actual 

 price -f44 per cent, price in 1926 money, -fi per cent). Practically all 

 oysters from this region are cultivated and marketing is under control. 



5. There are only faint signs of the effects of the inflationary boom in 

 the third period (192 0-1930), which affected other luxury products of the 

 fisheries. 



6. Marked regional differences in price level have persisted over the 

 years; South Atlantic cheapest, and in rising order, Chesapeake, Gulf, 

 New England and Mid-Atlantic. 



These relationships of quantities to prices and money values indicate 

 that even the diminishing production was exerting pressure on market demand 

 in all regions and in the whole eastern part of the country sufficiently to 

 cause decrease in prices and in purchasing power of the total net proceeds of 

 sales; the decline of 67 per cent in production in the largest producing region, 

 the Chesapeake, was not sufficient to prevent decline in prices. 



Possible Explanations of the Market and Price Behavior of Oysters. 

 It is not necessary to seek a single factor or "cause" of the adverse change 



S3. Per capita production of oysters, Eastern, bushels. 



1880 .444 1920 .160 



1890 .421 1925 .155 



1897 447 1929 .121 



1904 .297 193s _ -III 



1908 .288 1940 ,136 



