33 



Question 2. How many men in a particular area have the 

 requirements for a successful large scale fishing operation? 



It is relatively easy to assess whether a man can or 

 cannot effectively adopt fishing innovations at any given time. 

 It is much more difficult to use this information to predict 

 what he can do in the future. A man who might be so unskilled 

 that he could not enter a large scale fishing operation at the 

 present, might find himself in a very different position after 

 several years experience in fishing. Some assessment of this 

 situation could be gained by studying the strategies which men 

 currently engaged in large scale fishing have used in getting 

 assets necessary for adoption of better fishing technology. 



Question 3. Of the men who control all of the viability 

 requirements for a successful large boat operation, or can 

 easily acquire them, how many men are interested and motivated 

 to invest in modern equipment? 



In the United States, many successful fishermen are 

 highly innovative (Smith 1976:34). However, it cannot be assumed 

 that everyone, or even a large number of men, who could possibly 

 move into large-scale offshore fishing will do so immediately. 

 People who exploit common property resources have such strong 

 feelings about "sharing" and "equity" that strong social barriers 

 are often erected against adopting any technological innovations 

 which v/ould give some men a competitive edge (Acheson 19 76; 

 Gersuny and Poggie 1974) . If and when a set of "early adopters" 

 does manage to adopt new offshore fishing technology, there is no 

 reason to believe that a large number of other people will 



