APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
The more critical areas needing solutions are the 
Pacific and North Atlantic areas in which some action has 
already been initiated: quotas in the Pacific and tempo- 
rary closure of the North Atlantic. 
The lack of or limited availability of resources seems 
to be the problem of most concern. The main causes for the 
problem may be attributed to increased fishing pressure and, 
as some believe, deteriorating environmental habitat. Sec- 
ondary causes may be common property nature of the resource, 
unlimited entry, lack of management, and growing markets. 
Imports 
Imports are needed to meet the domestic market demand. 
In most periods the increases in imports and domestic pro- 
duction have not been so large as to exceed the growth in 
demand. 
Possibly, from the consumer's viewpoint, any protective 
policy would result in even higher prices during periods 
of reduced domestic landings. However, if the imported 
shrimp were to have an undesirable effect on the domestic 
market, the Government could take action to either ban 
part or all of the imports or levy an import tax. 
The future growth of the shrimp industry appears to 
depend heavily upon imports. 
Gulf States fishery 
In the Gulf States fishery a limited entry or effort 
policy probably would not, in any given year, result in 
a large increase in domestic landings. The relatively 
constant supply provided by the annual crop in itself 
limits shrimpers® participation in’ they£ishery. ~Even 
though higher shrimp prices may attract additional invest- 
ments, which would probably increase harvesting capacity 
and further reduce the catch per unit of effort, the shrimp- 
ers' acumen and level of accepted risk will probably deter- 
mine the measure of the shrimper's success. 
In the case of the Gulf States, limiting entry to a 
specific number of shrimpers would be primarily an egali- 
tarian action to guarantee a high level of economic bene- 
fits without a guarantee that efficiency will dramatically 
increase or that the price of shrimp to the consumer will 
be lower or remain the same. 
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