landings 77 percent below those of 19ii5 and 

 57 percent less than the average annual 

 landings of the 19li6-ii8 postwar period. 



Between 1922 and 19lj8 the long-run 

 trend in landings of all species of ground- 

 fish was upward. In the latter year over 

 half a billion pounds of groundfish were 

 landed in New England ports. The downward 

 trend began In 19^49, however, and by 1957 

 landings were down to a third of a billion 

 pounds. The trend in aggregate landings of 

 groundfish since 1939 followed the trend of 

 landings of ocean perch and cod. Haddock 

 landings have been relatively stable, while 

 there has been a substantial decline in the 

 aggregate landings of pollock, hake and 

 cuskj (table I-l in the Appendix which con- 

 tains all tables for this report.) 



Landed values of groundfish have like- 

 wise declined, especially in the post-World 

 War II period. Landed values in 1957 were 

 $10 million below those of 19li8, (table 

 I-l). Lower ocean perch revenues accounted 

 for U6 percent of the loss; cod for about 

 2k percent of itj and haddock 21 percent. 2/ 

 During this same period, when groundfish 

 values declined 35 percent, the value of 

 fish other than groundfish landed in New 

 England declined only 10 percent, and the 

 landed value of shellfish actually increased 

 21 percent, (chart I-l). Thus the depression 

 in the groundfish industry was responsible 

 for the resultant decline of 11 percent in 

 the value of all New England fishery land- 

 ings over this period. This decline occur" 

 red in a decade when wholesale prices were 

 rising 17 percent and when the cost of gear 

 and equipment as reflected by prices paid 

 by fishermen was advancing sharply. If 

 landed values are deflated by the wholesale 

 price index (chart 1-2), it is seen that, 

 in real terms. New England groundfish rev- 

 enues dropped by k2 percent over the 19U8 

 to 1957 period, and that of all fish and 

 shellfish by 21 percent. This serves to 



poiiTt up the fact that the absolute decline 



of the New England fishing industry is due 



principally to the decline of its ground- 

 fish component. 



This postwar crisis has been marked 

 by both a diminishing catch and a price 

 structure that has been inadequate to com- 

 pensate for the lower domestic supply and 

 the higher costs of vessel operation. In 

 the 19i48-57 decade landings and values of 

 groundfish declined by the same proportion, 

 indicating little change in unit catch 

 prices, despite the severe change in quan- 

 tities available for sale. Thus, per unit 

 prices remained relatively stable until 

 1958 when the unit price rose in response 

 to an international scarcity of groundfish, 

 (table 1-2). 



Significant Ty, the decline in domestic 

 landings was paralleled by a sharp upward 

 trend in imported groundfish products, in- 

 cluding ocean perch fillets, (tables 1-15 

 and 1-16) . This rapid growth in the 

 volume of imported groundfish products, 

 principally from Canada, has had a serious 

 competitive impact upon the domestic in- 

 dustry. The organization of the Canadian 

 groundfish industry is examined in 

 Chapter n. 



The groundfish industry is of varying 

 importance to the prosperity of the five 

 leading New England ports, (table 1-3). 

 The Boston fishing fleet is almost complete- 

 ly dependent on groundfish for its liveli- 

 hood; in New Bedford less than 10 percent 

 of fishing revenues comes from groundfish 

 (61 percent from scallops and 25 percent 

 from flounder fishing). Over 50 percent 

 of Gloucester's prijniary fishery values are 

 derived from groundfish. In Portland and 

 Rockland, groundfish are the most valuable 

 category of seafish landed. The lower 

 values of groundfish in relation to all 

 fish and shellfish landed in these latter 



5/ The relation between the trend in ocean perch landings and values and total ground- 

 fish landings and values is even more evident if analysis is made of the decline in reve- 

 nues between 1951, the postwar peak, and 1957. In this period, total groundfish values 

 were off $11.2 million, of which 67 percent is accounted for by lower ocean perch sales. 



