duces incentive to market output at distant 

 points. Aside from the high risk of spoilage, 

 producers and distributors in many instances 

 face the obstacle of being inaccessible to de- 

 pendable shipping channels. 



Oysters, are, nonetheless, consumed in all 

 regions in the United States. As noted in Fig- 

 ure 5, only two regions — the South Atlantic 

 and West South Central — are completely self- 

 sufficient in the product. The surplus from 

 these regions thus moves in trade to the sev- 

 eral other regions which rely on inshipments 

 of oysters to satisfy demand. The shaded areas 

 of the left scale of Figure 5 denote the quantity 

 of inshipments, by region, including foreign 

 imports, and the unshaded areas indicate the 

 quantity produced within the region. On the 

 right-hand scale of Figure 5, shaded areas in- 



DISTRIBUTION 



IKSHIPMQITS H Oin-SHIPMENTS 



Q LAKDINCS □ CONSUMPTION* 



* Total contuiDptLon - at hutne and away 



Figure 5. — Regional supplies and distribution of 

 oysters. Source: Appendix 3. 



dicate outshipments of the product within the 

 region; the light areas show regional con- 

 sumption. 



There is, it appears, a national market for 

 oysters. However, regions outside the produc- 

 ing areas consume less than their proportional 



share of output (based on population) and can 

 be categorized as underdeveloped markets. 



The existence of underdeveloped market 

 areas for oysters implies fertile ground for 

 future market expansion, assuming, of course, 

 adequate resource availability. The fact that 

 consumption rates are already high in the pro- 

 ducing areas further implies that successful 

 expansion of the industry will be linked closely 

 with the development of the distant markets. 

 The price effects of placing substantially in- 

 creased supplies in local markets could be 

 disastrously adverse. 



It is not unlikely that aggressive marketing 

 development in the underdeveloped market 

 areas would produce advantages under the 

 present scales of oyster production. These 

 markets are in the high income, densely pop- 

 ulated regions of the United States, which in- 

 dicates a potential for marketing large quanti- 

 ties of oysters at prices more favorable than 

 those received in local markets. There are, 

 moreover, additional advantages to the regional 

 economy that would come about through a shift 

 in oyster marketing efforts toward more in- 

 terregional trade. These include the value of 

 such services as long-haul transportation per- 

 formed by regional firms in the export activity 

 for the local oyster industry. 



Clams 



It is apparent that clam markets are highly 

 concentrated in three regions — New England, 

 Middle Atlantic, and Pacific — where, in ag- 

 gregate, STf of the U.S. population consumes 

 about 85 Sc of the national total. 



n: 



s 



M 



■J I -I i .^ 



^ 



Hrw Kiaalf C.ir. W.H. SouUi B.C. w.s. 



fntlfDi All»ntlc C*ntr>l 0»nlr«l AlIwUc C»ntr«l Oer.tr«l Howitatn Pacific 



Figure 6. — Regional distribution of clam consumption 

 (at home) and population, 1969. Source: Appendix 2. 



