ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 45 



of days a vessel actually fishes. This category would include invest- 

 ment and gearing costs such as depreciation, insurance, licenses, 

 moorage, property taxes, and a portion of repair and supplies. 



Assume that a reduction of one-third is made in the number of 

 units of gear of all types, ignoring for the moment the difficulties 

 of doing it. With the same escapement requirement, this means that 

 two-thirds the number of men working more days per week in the 

 season would be required to take the permitted catch. Investment 

 and gearing costs would be reduced proportionately. Total running 

 costs for the fleet would remain the same, since running time for a 

 larger number of vessels will simply be reallocated to a smaller num- 

 ber fishing more days. (It is likely that running costs would be some- 

 what smaller with a smaller fleet and the same total fishing effort, 

 but for the sake of a conservative estimate we have assumed them 

 to be the same.) It is then possible to calculate the total additional 

 amounts that would have been available for vessel owners and for 

 share fishermen in representative years. The effect on the individual 

 vessel will depend, of course, on the extent to which it fished in 

 other waters or in other fisheries during the period when the Puget 

 Sound season was in progress. We are primarily concerned with the 

 impact on total costs and total earnings available to the fleet as a 

 whole. 



The results of these calculations for reductions of 33V3 per cent 

 and 50 per cent in selected years are indicated in Table 4. 



The resulting estimates of increased earnings available to share 

 fishermen and vessel owners are generally consistent with those 

 derived from the simulation program discussed in Section III. Total 

 savings with a 33V^3 per cent reduction in gear range from $700,000 

 to more than $2,500,000 depending on the size of the run and the 

 ability of the fleet to harvest it. A 50 per cent cut would yield savings 

 from about $1,000,000 to nearly $4,000,000. No effort has been 

 made to segregate these to indicate the portion going to share fish- 

 ermen and to vessel owners since this will depend in large part on 

 the cost structure and crew arrangement of the individual fishing 

 boat. The magnitude of the figures leaves no doubt, however, that 

 a reduction in the number of units fishing would produce major in- 

 creases in earnings. Regardless of the final disposition of these sav- 

 ings, it is clear that the economic position of all participants can be 

 improved even if license fees were raised significantly. 



