ECONOMICS OF THE FISHERIES 395 



all fishery products, food and non-food, has increased from around 1.5 billion 

 pounds annual average in the 1890's to 3.5 billion pounds in the late 1930's; 

 (2) that the number of fishermen engaged in producing the total yield has 

 decreased from 140,000 in the 1890's and early 1900's to 100,000 in the 

 1930's; (3) that the number of fishermen engaged tends to follow the pulse 

 of the business cycle, but with lower amplitude of change than that of 

 quantity of production; (4) that the quantity of production per fisherman 

 increased from about 10 to 12 thousand pounds per man in the 1890's and 

 early 1900's to 30-odd thousand in the 1930's; (5) that the production per 

 man (in the late period of good statistics) followed faithfully the business 

 cycle, i.e., fishermen catch more fish per man in good times and less in bad 

 times; (6) that the actual money income per man increased from around 

 $300 per man at the turn of the century to $1,000 in 1929 and around $750 

 in the late 1930's; (7) that the relative purchasing power ("real") income 

 increased from $525 in the early period to $1,000 in 1929 and the late 

 1930's; and (8) that fishermen's income is less deflated in bad times in 

 terms of purchasing power for other goods than it appears to be in actual 

 dollars and cents. 



These relationships for the Atlantic-Gulf coasts are similar in nature 

 to those of the United States, but quantitatively not quite equal. Here again, 

 in the behavior of fishermen is seen the operation of the mechanism of 

 automatic adjustment of production to demand. As long as men are free to 

 enter or leave the fisheries, and find it relatively easy to do so (since 

 requirements of capital and skill or experience are not great), the number 

 of men, each in pursuit 0} his own best interest, adjusts itself in such manner 

 that each fisherman does about as well at fishing as he could do in employ- 

 ment at other occupations. The real or purchasing power wages of industrial 

 employment have increased during the past century at the rate of doubling 

 about each 45 years, and the proportionate incomes of fishermen have as 

 faithfully followed the trend of industrial wages as volume and value of 

 their products have followed the trend of the business cycle. 



Improvements in Efficiency and Their Effects. Such improvements in 

 efficiency as have been made in the fisheries of seven regions of the country 

 resulting in an average tripling of the quantity per man, and doubling the 

 real value of the catch per man, have necessitated the retirement from fishing 

 of a third of the labor force, notwithstanding a doubling of the human 

 consuming population since 1890. Any further improvements in production 

 per man whether in methods of catching or in abundance of fish that would 

 enable fishermen to catch more fish per effort could be expected to have 

 the same effect, i.e., produce technological unemployment, as long as demand 

 remains unchanged. Therefore, it follows that efforts to improve the lot of 



