Domestic producers do not contend that 

 they can presently supply all the United 

 States demand for groundfish fillets. They 

 do claim that their foreign competitors, 

 particularly the Canadians, are such low- 

 cost producers that they can sell in the 

 United States at a price which is demor- 

 alizing. This price has to be met, and 

 consequently New England processors are 

 unable to pay the boat owners a price 

 for imp recessed fish high enough to make 

 vessel ownership profitable. 



This report will attempt to investi- 

 gate and evaluate the comparative costs 

 of production of New England groundiish 



vessels and those in the Canadian 

 Maritime Provinces. The research will 

 be confined to the costs of procuring the 

 raw material, i.e., of catching and land- 

 ing the fish. It will not examine the 

 processing costs. 



Basic to an intelligent comparison of 

 the production cost structure of the two 

 competitors is an xinderstanding of the 

 socio-economic nature of the fishery in 

 the Maritime Provinces and of its relation 

 to the general econony of the area. An 

 analysis and development of the Maritime 

 groundfishery in this light will be the 

 task of Chapter II. 



10 



