considered eligible for this group (See Table 

 6). There will be some overlap between this 

 group and Target Group I. 



Different combinations of investment and 

 effort suggest other possible approaches to 

 management alternatives. For instance, one 

 could identify a group that represents rela- 

 tively high effort and low investment input 

 combination; another group may represent 

 relatively higher investment and lower effort 

 input combination.*' The reasoning for at 

 least considering these groups as possible 

 target groups may be explained as follows: 

 in the absence of any precise knowledge about 

 the optimum combination of effort and invest- 

 ment, two contrasting groups — high-effort 

 low-investment versus low-effort high-invest- 

 ment — might suggest alternative goals for 

 management strategies. For instance, one 

 might consider eliminating excessive capital 

 versus eliminating excessive effort as possible 

 goals. As a minimum, the differences in socio- 

 economic impact of such changes should be 

 examined. 



It is reasonable to assume that excess 

 capacity exists in the lobster fishery, although 

 it is difficult to establish whether such excess 

 capacity is due to excessive effort or excessive 

 investment or both. Under these conditions. 



" This approach was suggested by Dr. Adam A. 

 Sokoloski, National Marine Fisheries Service in per- 

 sonal correspondence dated December 16, 1970. 



it seems meaningful to isolate for analytical 

 purposes, two cases, one showing evidence 

 of excessive effort and the other of excessive 

 investment. Admittedly, the state of the art 

 does not provide absolute measurement of 

 excess capacity either in terms of effort or in 

 terms of investment. 



Target Group III has been constructed to 

 reflect excessive effort in the sense that these 

 fishermen supply a large amount of labor to 

 their operation relative to their investment. 

 They fish, on an average. 150 days per year 

 compared to 109 days for the entire sample; 

 their average investment amounted to $4,410 

 compared to $7,575 for the entire sample. 

 As a practical device, the criteria of those 

 fishing over 100 days per year with investment 

 of less than $8,000 in gear were used to select 

 the candidates for this group of 28 fishermen. 



Target Group IV represents excessive capi- 

 tal in the sense that the fishermen in this 

 group have substantial investments in gear 

 relative to the number of days per year fished. 

 On the average they have invested $12,410 

 compared to $7,575 for the entire sample and 

 they fish an average of 78 days per year com- 

 pared to 109 days per year for the sample. 

 This group of six fishermen included those 

 who have invested more than $8,000 and who 

 fish less than 100 days per year. 



Table 7 provides the basic information from 

 which Target Groups III and IV have been 

 derived. 



Table 7. — Distribution of sample lobstermen by investment and number of days fished. 



Source: University of Maine Survey Data, 1970. 



166 



