PREFACE 



The American groundfish industry, centered in New England, far from 

 participating in the general prosperity which has characterized the national 

 econoBQT in the post-World War II period, has been in a continual stage of 

 decline during these years. The growing unprofitability of the groundfish 

 industry and its effects on new investment, employment, and ressel construc- 

 tion, are matters of grare concern not only to those whose livelihood de- 

 pends on the industry, but also to those concerned with the preservation, 

 development, and utilization of the fishery in an area notably short of 

 resource - based enterprises. 



The major reasons usually assigned for this decline are the decline 

 of fish populations in local waters to lower but stable levels and the con- 

 sequent high unit costs of operating, the costs and difficulties of marketing 

 the product in competition with other food items, and the impact of foreign 

 competition, principally from the Canadian Atlantic Provinces. 



This report is an attempt to qualify and quantify these and other 

 causes, both internal and external, of the decline of the New England 

 groundfish industry. In doing so, it will focus on the comparative per- 

 formances of the industries of New England and its chief competitor, the 

 Canadian Atlantic Provinces. It deals with the economic, social, and 

 biological factors which have affected both. 



The study was performed by the Bureau of Business Research of Boston 

 College, under contract to the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries of the United 

 States Department of the Interior. It was financed with funds made avail- 

 able under the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act, approved July 1, 195U. (68 Stat. 376). 



The Bureau of Business Research, Boston College, is indebted to many 

 individuals, government agencies, and private firms in this country and 

 Canada, which aided in the study. Among these are Dr. Donald J. White, 

 Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration of Boston College, 

 and a recognized authority on the New England fishing industry^ the various 

 trawler owners in New England and Canada who made their records available 

 to us J the New England Fish Exchange; the Atlantic Fishermen's Union j the 

 Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industry; the Massachusetts Division 

 of Employment Security; the insurance brokers and repair yard owners who 

 gave freely of their time and knowledge; the Fisheries Research Board of 

 Canada; the Newfoundland Fisheries Development Commission; the Department 

 of Trade and Industry of Nova Scotia; and the Atlantic Provinces Economic 

 Council. 



Finally, the Bureau of Business Research wishes to acknowledge the 

 continuing guidance and counsel, throughout the study, of Mr. Walter H. 

 Stolting, Chief, and Mr. Alton T. Murray, Commodity Industry Economist, 

 of the Branch of Economics, Division of Industrial Research, in the Bui'eau 

 of Commercial Fisheries and the assistance furnished by the Director, 

 Dr. Herbert W. Graham and staff members of the Woods Hole Laboratory, 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



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