for only those trips made by the respec- 

 tive captains which had the same or similar 

 landing dates. Thus, except for the skill 

 of the captains, "all other things were 

 equal." 



The results of this comparison are 

 shown in table V-6. For both years, the 

 performance of Vessel A in all three cate- 

 gories was superior to that of Vessel B. 

 Ii/hile this is not conclusive of the propo- 

 sition, it is at least a partial indication 

 of the importance of the human element in 

 vessel performance. 98/ 



The foregoing observations have been 

 intended to point up the hazards of over- 

 simplification and generalization in any 

 analysis of the complex New England ground- 

 fish industry. It is also intended to show 

 the futility of any unilateral solution to 

 the industry's internal problems. 



Costs .and Earnings in the Boston 

 Industry; 200 •*• Gross-Ton Trawlers 



1. Methodology 



Cost and earnings data was furnished 

 to the authors by various owners of large 

 trawlers operating out of Boston. The in- 

 formation furnished covered the years 1953 

 to 1957, but its use is severely restricted 

 by the fact that not all vessels are in- 

 cluded in every year, and also by the fact 

 that accounting procedures differ from one 

 operator to another, so that cost cate- 

 gories may not, therefore, be strictly com- 

 parable. Furthermore, because the data ex- 

 tends only over a five-year period, it was 

 not possible to extract any statistically 

 valid trends. 



Aware of these limitations, and in an 

 attempt to introduce some uniformity, it 

 was decided to group the data in three 

 ways. First, the vessels were grouped by 

 size: those 200 gross-tons and over are 

 considered separately from those 150 to 



199 gross-tons. Secondly, those vessels 



200 gross -tons and over which were con- 

 tinually among the top ten vessels (in 



terms of receipts) during the period 

 1956-58 were considered separately from 

 those which were never among the top ten. 

 The basis for the latter distinction is 

 the consistent behavior of vessels 200 

 gross-tons and over. These vessels, if 

 profitable in one year, tend to be profit- 

 able in all years. Conversely, those un- 

 profitable iJi one year tend to be unprofit- 

 able in all years. Thirdly, because of 

 variations in the vessels included in the 

 two periods, the data of 1953-55 was dis- 

 tinguished from that of 1956-57. 



2. Landings i>nd Receipts 



A comparison of the operating results 

 of the average Boston trawler 200 gross- 

 tons and over for the years from 1953 to 

 1957 is given in tables V-7 and V-8. 

 Table V-7 contains data which pertains to 

 the average performance of those vessels 

 of this size class which were "successful" 

 (profitable) in each of the years. Con- 

 versely, table V-8 gives the average per- 

 formance of simlar sized vessels which 

 were "unsuccessful" (unprofitable) in each 

 of the years. The ensuing discussion re- 

 lates to these two tables. 



The differences in landings and re- 

 ceipts of the more successful and less 

 successful Boston trawlers, 200 gross-tons 

 and over, are substantial in either period. 

 In 1953 through 1955 the average annual 

 landings per vessel of the more successful 

 trawlers rose from 3.2 to li.l million 

 pounds; average receipts increased from 

 $266,800 to $28U,200. During the same 

 period annual landings of the less suc- 

 cessful trawlers increased from only 2.3 

 million pounds to 2.U million pounds and 

 average annual receipts fell from $183,600 

 to $llll,700 per vessel. 



Although the average landings per 

 vessel on both the more and less successful 

 trawlers were lower in 1957 than in 1956, 

 the average receipts per vessel of the more 

 successful trawlers increased from $255,200 

 in 1956 to $27l,600 in 1957; the less suc- 

 cessful trawlers saw their average receipts 



98/ Other comparisons involving pairs of sister-ships were attempted but proved to be 

 cf no value since the rapid turnover of captains on these vessels made it impossible to 

 assign the captaincy with any degree of certainty. 



61 



