BIOSTATISTIC AL ANALYSIS 



35 



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Z -2- \^ 



-3- \ 



5 67 10 



uni o» gear Ifiocl.on of piesent le 



FIG. 18. Net earnings''' of (U. S.) Puget Sound net fisheries when 

 the sockeye and pink runs are one-half their ''standard" 

 sizes as a function of the amount of gear fished. 



'■■•Net earnings is defined as the gross value of the catch minus all fixed costs. 

 Labor costs have not been subtracted from the net earnings figure. Net earnings is 

 the amount of profit that is avaihible for division between labor and capital. 



It should be mentioned that no correction factors have been in- 

 cluded in this model for gear interference effects. It can be assumed 

 under any restriction scheme that the less efficient units would be 

 ehminated and that the eflficiency of the units left fishing on the 

 grounds would increase simply because there were not so many other 

 units of gear to interfere with the standard fishing operations. Neither 

 of these factors has been included in this model. Therefore, if there 

 is any error in the computations it would be on the conservative side; 

 i.e., we would tend to underestimate the economic benefit of gear 

 reduction and underestimate the harvesting ability of a reduced fleet. 



Conservation and Management of the Runs 



Totally aside from any economic gains, gear limitation can pro- 

 vide definite benefits to the conservation of the resource and at the 

 same time provide more fish to the fishermen. 



During moderate-sized runs with the present level of gear, fishing 

 must be curtailed to as Httle as two days per week in order to allow 

 the necessary escapement. Short fishing periods with very high fishing 



