40 



Cf) Employment opportunities and skills of the labor force 



In applying the concept of OSY, cost and earnings studies are an in- 

 adequate indicator of the economic well-being of fishermen because one must 

 have a reference point in judging how much is enough. An adequate income in 

 one region of the country may be regarded as poverty in another. Moreover, 

 fishing income may be only part of a fisherman's total annual income. The 

 benchmark should be related to the non-fishing employment alternatives and 

 incomes of fishermen. 



In addition, if measures of economic efficiency are to be considered, 

 the lay systems common in most fisheries may yield a biased indication of 

 the social productivity of investments. If maximum economic efficiency (MEE) 

 were the sole objective, management plans would seek to promote a rough 

 parity between returns in fishing and non-fishing alternatives. Such a 

 standard would be consistent with regional and seasonal adjustments to general 

 plans because non-fishing employment opportunities vary regionally and season- 

 ally. Since MEE will not be the sole objective in management, the above 

 parity may rarely be achieved, but management decisions should be cognizant 

 of any disparity and how the disparities respond over time to management 

 plans. Consequently, to supplement cost and earnings studies for domestic 

 fishermen, there should exist a continuing series on labor force character- 

 istics and the non-fishing employment opportunities of fishermen. Such a 

 series need not necessarily be an annual one and the most practical method 

 for obtaining information would be periodic systematic samples. 



(g) Fisheries development 



In Section I of this report it was noted that the Secretary could re- 

 quire foreign vessels to supply certain information relevant for assessing 

 the feasibility of technology transfers. In general, however, successful 



