It is beyond the sc»pe of this report 

 to comment on the social implicationa of 

 a production system which can involve 

 extra unneeded men and vessels in achiev- 

 ing maximum sustained landings* This is 

 not a situation peculiar to the fisheries 

 alone. The phenomenon may be viewed, also, 

 in agriculture, transportation, printing 

 and publishing, and in other industries 

 too numerous to note. 



It is necessary, however, to point 

 out the cost implications of the funda- 

 mental relationship between effort, catch 

 per day per vessel, and annual sustained 

 yield. If an average annual effort of 

 2,200 days was sufficient to land 75 

 million pounds of haddock in the pre-1927 

 period, it should not, even at a liberal 

 estimate, have taken over 5,000 days to 

 catch the modern day yield of around 91 

 million pounds. §0/ Yet the average number 

 of days fished annually on Georges Bank 

 since 1931 has been about 7,000, In other 

 words, the catch covild have been secured 

 with approximately 29 percent lower 

 physical costs. 



In such a situation, if revenues do 

 not advance relative to the hi^er real 

 physical and financial costs of fishing, 

 the industry has to make fundamental ad- 

 justments for survival, in addition to 

 the industry's burden of the excess costs 

 of fishing, the cost of fishing is in- 

 creasing because of the upward trend in 

 such elements of costs such as labor, 

 insurance, and repairs. In^jort competi- 

 tion is pertinent to this aspect of the 

 profitability of the domestic industry 

 only to the extent it keeps ex-vessel 

 prices from rising to levels that would 

 cover more, if not all, of increased fish- 

 ing costs and excess costs of fishing. 



The New England industry has over the 

 years accommodated itself partially and 

 often painfully to the resulting lower 

 catch per day situatioft. From 1931 to 1936 

 many of the trawlers deserted Georges Bank 



for the more distant Nova Scotian banks. 

 During the period 1926-30, New England 

 vessels caught an average of 130 million 

 poTinds annually from Georges Bank and only 

 13 million pounds from the Nova Scotian 

 banks. By 193ii the fleet was catching 88 

 million pounds annually on the Nova Sco- 

 tian banks versus only 1^0 million pounds 

 on overexploited Georges, ^1/ other 

 trawlers deserted the haddock fishery to 

 engage in other ground fishing, particular- 

 ly the new ocean perch fishery which devel- 

 oped after 1935 in Gloucester, 



let the 1930's were fairly good 

 years for the haddock fleet. The adjust- 

 ments mentioned, plus the fact that in 

 constant dollars both the ex-vessel price 

 of haddock and scrod and the total value 

 of Boston landings remained reasonably 

 stable, permitted some replacement and 

 investment in haddock otter trawlers in 

 the late 1930's. 



Since World War U, however, with 

 the exceptions of 1958 and 1959, both 

 ex- vessel prices and total value in con- 

 stant dollars have declined and have not 

 reflected the higher costs of fishing. 

 The Boston catch in 1957 in constant 

 dollars was worth almost 20 percent less 

 than that of 19 U7 and on a par with 193ij» 

 Ex-vessel prices for haddock and scrod in 

 1958 and 1959 were the highest in history 

 because of the severe scarcity. Landings 

 were so light, however, that in constant 

 dollars, values were 13 percent under the 

 19li7-l49 average. 



Ihe inexorable economic consequences 

 have been severe: there has been a marked 

 reduction in the Boston haddock CLeet as 

 vessels have been transferred to other 

 ports for ocean perch fishing or sent to 

 Canada; many operators have left the 

 business; no large otter trawler has been 

 built or replaced in Boston since 1952. 

 Consciously or not, the industry has been 

 forced to reduce its effort expenditures 

 in terms of fishing days. This reduction 



80/ Nesbitt before the United States Tariff Commission, op, cit. 



81/ Herrington, op, cit. p. 9. Also ICNAF, Document 9, April 3, 1951, 

 H^Tfax, Nova Scotia. 



Ii5 



