the survey was completed in 6 weeks. The 

 response rate was better than 90% . 



The survey resulted in a large volume of 

 information on the sampled fishermen. The 

 following broad categories of information 

 may be identified : 



Categories Types of Information 



Demographic Age 



Family Size and Composition 



Mobility 



Marital status 



Socioeconomic Income 



Employment history 

 Education and training 

 Monetary return 

 Parental occupation 

 Housing 



Operational 



Behavioral- 

 Attitudinal 



Gear types 



Investment in boat and gear 

 Operating expenses 

 Maintenance and repair ex- 

 penditures 

 Size of operations 

 Seasonal patterns 

 Rate of capacity utilization 



Reasons for lobstering 



Job interests 



Attitudes towards leaving the 



lobster industry 

 Job-seeking 

 Attitudes toward training, views 



on excess capacity 



ANALYSIS 



The Maine Lobster Fishery: Some Basic Facts 



The lobster industry in the State of Maine 

 landed 19.8 million pounds of lobsters worth 

 $16.1 million in 1969. This accounted for 

 10.4% of the quantity and 58.3% of the value 

 of the total fish and shellfish landings for 

 that year (Maine Landings, 1968-70, p. 3). 



There were 5,750 lobster licenses issued in 

 the State in 1969. These 5,750 lobstermen 

 fished a total of 805,375 traps or approximately 



105.7 million trap-days during the year 1969. 

 The gross earnings per unit of effort was 

 $0.18 per trap-day. This value is arrived at 

 by adjusting Maine landings up by 16% to 

 include landings not reported. This produced 

 total landings of 18.7 million which were 

 divided by total trap-days yielding the re- 

 turn of $0.18 per trap-day. The average gross 

 income was approximately $3,000. The total 

 investment in gear (i.e., boats, traps, buoys, 

 etc.) is about $10 million.'' 



There have been fluctuations in the number 

 of licenses issued over the past 10 years. Table 

 1 illustrates a seemingly cyclical pattern of 

 lobster licenses, showing a high of 6,472 in 

 1961, a low of 5,425 in 1962, and another 

 high of 6,316 in 1970. 



The communities chosen for study — Phipps- 

 burg, Corea, and Beals — represent 277 fisher- 

 men or 4.4% of the 6,316 fishermen licensed 

 in 1970. A sample of 131 of the fishermen was 

 randomly selected by community as shown 

 in Table 2. The geographical locations of these 

 three communities are shown in Figure 1. 



Economic Profile of the Sample Communities 



Beals is an island community of 658 persons 

 located across Mossabec Reach from Jones- 

 port, Maine, population 1,337 (1970 Census — 

 Preliminary Report, Population Counts for 

 States). The two communities — Beals and 

 Jonesport — are integrated as a labor market 

 but have .separate political identities. The only 

 administrative connection between the towns 

 is a shared high school. 



Employment opportunities are limited to 

 the fishing industry and service industry oc- 

 cupations. The Department of Sea and Shore 

 Fisheries issued 142 lobster licenses to the 

 residents of Beals in 1969. Other licenses in- 

 clude worms — 52, and clams — 89. Many 

 of the fishermen hold more than one license. 

 No license is needed for shrimping. 



Businesses on Beals include seven lobster 

 pounds, most of which are family owned and 

 operated. The pounds are used to store lob- 

 sters until market prices increase and the 



■' Information supplied by Robert Dow. Research 

 Division, Maine Department of .Sea ami .Shore Fisheries. 



161 



