To permit comparison of data for successive years, charts 

 vere constructed for the 38 vessels in the Federal Trade Commission 

 sample for which complete cost information for both 1953 and 195'^- 

 vere available (see figures IV - ^1 and IV - ^2). In addition to 

 these charts, break-even charts were also constructed for 7 motor 

 boats (figures IV - h3, IV - kh and IV - ^5) for which complete 

 information for 1952, 1953 and I95U was available. 



Average break-even catches of 7 motor boat operations, on 

 the basis of the Federal Trade Commission data, were in the neighbor- 

 hood of 6,900 pounds in 1952, about if,800 pounds in 1953 and 6,200 

 pounds in 195i<-. 



Compared to the data for vessels, the motor boat figures 

 were lower in each Instance. The two series of data, however, bear 

 some resemblance to each other. The break-even points for vessels 

 and boats alike moved at the same time and in the same direction 

 during the thi'ee-year period studied. 



An effort has been made to construct break-even charts for 

 the fishery as a whole. For this purpose the ratios for boat (fixed) 

 and trip (variable) expenses, to gross receipts for vessels and motor 

 boats included in the Federal Trade Commission sample were computed 

 separately for each year. The two ratios were then applied to total 

 annual catch figures for each year to make i-ough estimates of total 

 fixed and variable costs in shrimp production for these years. The 

 resulting charts are sho^m below (profits, as shown, are before State 

 and Federal income taxes) in figures IV - 46, IV - ^-7 and IV - 48. 



227 



