fisheries. The primary fisheries concerns all 

 activities associated with catching and de- 

 livering fish to the processing plants. The 

 secondary fishery is composed of fish proc- 

 essing activities that occur after the fish are 

 delivered to the plants. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Information on the economics of the Maine 

 Passamoquoddy Project area was obtained 

 from several sources. Robert Dow of the 

 Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries 

 collected most of the data on the values of the 

 primary fishery landings. His sources were 

 the statistical publication Maine Landinjn^ and 

 personal interviews with fishermen, fish deal- 

 ers and processors, and wardens of the 

 Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries. 

 Lewis Lozier and John Wentworth of the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries interviewed weir 

 operators, stop seiners, owners of herring 

 carriers, and fish processors. D. A. McKown 

 of the same Bureau provided data on the 

 secondary fishery industries. 



the weir, but not the entire labor costs, be- 

 cause only the poledriving expenses were 

 known. Annual operating expenditures per 

 weir were $622 for 1956 and $649 for 1957. 

 Included in operating expenses are netting, 

 land rentals, transportation, boat operating 

 expenses and repairs, some labor, and other 

 costs. 



The weir investment is obtained by adding 

 the capital value of the weir to the inventory 

 value (table 3). In 1956, the average weir 

 investment was $5,492; in 1957, it was $5,555. 

 The average gross income per weir was 

 $2,286 in 1956 and $1,478 in 1957. The net 

 cash return per weir was $1,664 in 1956 and 

 $829 in 1957, Average expenses for 1956 were 

 $622 and for 1957 were $649. 



Table 4 sh\ ws the nature and value of the 

 gear that is associated with weir operations; 

 that gear has also been entered in table 3 as 

 Inventories . Boats, scows, rafts, seines, pile- 

 drivers, and shore equipment are all necessary 

 for the operation of the weirs. 



PRIMARY FISHERY SURVEY 

 Herring 



The primary survey of the U.S. Passama- 



quoddy herring fishery covered with the 



operation of the weirs, stop seines, and 

 carriers. 



Weirs . — In 1957, there were 19 weir enter- 

 prises, which represented 24 weirs (fig. 2). 

 This number includes one operator who owned 

 five patent weirs, three of which were not put 

 into operation because no herring were 

 seen in the vicinit>'. A patent weir has 

 stakes to which seines are attached when 

 herring appear. 



Basic data on the economics of gear opera- 

 tion were collected during the survey of the 

 weir fishery (tables 1 and 2). The average 

 value of a weir was $3,930. This sum in- 

 cluded the costs of the material that made 



About 40 men engaged in the weir fif hery, 

 and most of them were between 55 and 65 

 years old. Only one was less than 40 years 

 old. This may indicate the marginal nature 

 and limited future of this fishery. 



Stop 

 in the 



semes. 



--Seven stop seiners operated 

 Project area. Their total original 

 equipment investment averaged over 



capital 



$15,000 (table 5). The average value of equip- 

 ment in 1956 was less than $8,000 and in 

 1957 was over $9,000. Average gross income 

 per seiner was over $7,000 in 1956 and 

 $6,000 in 1957. Expenses averaged about 

 $1,600 (table 6). 



There were about 30 men on the seven stop 

 seine crews. Each crew man earned approxi- 

 mately $1,000 in 1956 and in 1957. 



Carriers . — Sixteen U.S. sardine carriers 

 operated in the Project area. These were owned 

 by eight sardine plants. In 1957, the estimated 

 values of the carriers was $291,000, an average 



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