36 

 we are essentially asking about their ability and willingness 

 to catch new species and process them in ways that make them 

 saleable. Two questions are paramount: 1. Under what condi- 

 tions will fishermen exploit new species and markets? 2. How 

 many fishermen will exploit a set of species under a given set 

 of conditons? 



Studying the conditions under which fishermen will exploit 

 new species is greatly eased by the fact that fishermen now often 

 exploit multiple species over the course of the year. Many 

 species are over-exploited, and some species are greatly under- 

 utilized. But there are very few species which are not caught 

 by someone, some place, at some time during the annual cycle off 

 the American coast. At present, it appears that price is one of 

 the primary factors influencing the decision of fishermen to 

 exploit various species. That is, they often opt for the species 

 which will give them the highest revenues relative to costs. If 

 this is generally true, then we would expect that a change in the 

 economic climate, especially changes in ex-vessel prices, would 

 be one of the key factors influencing the responsiveness of 

 fishermen to exploit new species. 



However, social and cultural factors clearly play an 

 important role as well. It has been noted, for example, that 

 large numbers of fishermen strongly resist the idea of cleaning 

 fish on board ship and undertaking certain procedures to reduce 

 the bacteria count in fish holds. Their unwillingness to accept 

 innovations such as these will certainly limit their ability to 

 enter certain markets. Given the fact that structural and 



