412 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



fish) taken together behaved with the average of all food fish and yielded 

 to the fishermen about a constant amount of purchasing power except in 

 the "bumper crop" period of 1908. 



In other cases, scarcity (in the presence of insistent demand and absence 

 of substitutes) does definitely express itself in higher prices. The volume of 

 production of lobster was reduced to 40 per cent in total amount, and one- 

 fifth per capita, over the 50-year period 1890-1940. Actual price increased 

 more than sixfold, and prices relative to all commodities and to all food 

 fish both increased five to sixfold; actual dollars of revenue doubled, and 

 purchasing power of the total dollar income of the fishermen for lobster 

 increased by nearly 50 per cent. The lake trout is a very close parallel to 

 the lobster in its pattern of behavior; production down by a fourth, actual 

 price up four times, commodity index price up three times, and fish index 

 price up four times, actual money value threefold, and purchasing power more 

 than twice. This pattern also applies to whitefish and the Great Lakes fishes 

 generally, and accounts for the remarkable comparative showing of the 

 Great Lakes regional behavior. (Tables 17 and 18.) 



Why it is that with a comparable amount of production and percentage 

 decline in both lobster and shad, the price of lobster should be increased 

 sixfold, that of the shad only doubled, the amount of money for the lobster 

 should be doubled and that for the shad be halved, and the purchasing power 

 of the total proceeds from the sale of lobster be increased by nearly 50 

 per cent, while that for shad be reduced to a little more than a third? The 

 shad can be easily substituted for by many other kinds of fish, and appears 

 to be declining in popularity along with the other heavy fat fishes, such as 

 the mackerel. The lobster is socially elegant, without any rival or substitute 

 unless spiny lobster or crayfish be considered a rival. It is biologically a 

 slow grower, limited in quantity, and is in definite demand; indeed, perhaps 

 the nature of the demand is such that it is more likely to be wanted at a 

 high price than it would be at a low price. The difference in behavior of 

 shad and lobster is obviously in public esteem or demand. It is evident that 

 the choicer species of fish from the Great Lakes must enjoy a prestige and 

 special demand similar to those for lobster, though the reasons why they 

 do are not obvious. These facts, of which only a few are here presented as 

 examples, clearly demonstrate that the welfare of fisheries and fishermen 

 is not simply a matter of abundance of fish, and could not be provided for 

 with any assurance by the maintenance (if that were possible) now proposed, 

 of each species simultaneously at some level of abundance which somebody 

 considers optimum. The one element which is indispensable to the welfare 

 of the fisheries is demand for their products. 



The oyster and the shrimp call for special consideration here, since the 

 two are or may be the most important fishery products of North Carolina. 



