Fish Prices ** 
Between 1970 and 1976, the average sale price 
of fish from boats increased from $0.1247 per 
pound to $0.2520 per pound—a 103-percent in- 
crease. The major portion of the increase is in the 
price of shellfish—$0.32 per pound to $0.76 per 
pound. Shellfish contribute about 50 percent to the 
total value of all fish and shellfish. 
Status of Representative Stocks 
The following discussion of the condition of major 
US. fisheries is taken from the 1976 report of the 
General Accounting Office entitled, The U.S. Fish- 
ing Industry—Present Condition and Future of Ma- 
rine Fisheries. Some fishery experts question some 
of the data and findings of the report, yet the de- 
scription of the various stocks is generally consid- 
ered to be sound. 
Clams 
Landings of hard, soft, surf, and other clams in 
1975 were 111 million pounds valued at a record 
$41 million. Almost all the U.S. clam production 
comes from New England, Middle Atlantic, and 
Chesapeake Bay States. Lack of management and 
pollution have been problems affecting clam resource 
availability. ; 
In 1975 NMFS estimated the maximum sustain- 
able yield of surf clams to be about 70 million 
pounds. Landings during 1973-75 exceeded this 
amount. The highest landings, 96 million pounds, 
were made in 1974. 
A maximum sustainable yield figure has not been 
established for hard clams; however, a State fishery 
official believes that the resource is being harvested 
at sustainable levels. More resource assessment is 
needed and would aid in management of the fishery. 
Maine, which accounted for about 75 percent of 
the soft clams in 1975, has no established maximum 
yield figure for the resource. A State official believes 
that the resource is being fished at about the sus- 
tainable level possible with current harvesting gear. 
Pollution is the greatest threat to hard and soft 
clams. In the two leading hard clam producing States, 
about 25 percent of the clam flats are closed, be- 
cause of pollution. About 21 percent of the flats 
of the leading soft clam producing State are closed 
because of bacterial pollution. Pacific coast clam 
production is small; however, the coasts of Alaska 
and Washington have significant and underutilized 
clam resources. 
Crabs 
Commercially important crab fisheries include 
blue crabs of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts; king 
and tanner crabs, which are caught exclusively off 
“The exvessel price discussion is based on data presented in 
Fisheries of the United States, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 
1975, and 1976. National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. 
Department of Commerce. 
Alaska shores; and dungeness crab, which is caught 
off nearly the entire Pacific coast. 
Landings of hard blue crabs were 142.5 million 
pounds in 1974. The Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of 
Mexico States were the leading producing areas. 
The supply of blue crabs is not stable. There are 
insufficient research and information to determine 
whether the fishery can be maintained through con- 
servation at any. particular level of abundance or 
whether the yield is determined solely by natural 
factors. It is known. however, that the resource is 
environmentally sensitive and pollution can cause 
fluctuations in the resource. Fishery biologists believe 
that resource assessment data for the Gulf are insuffi- 
cient to evaluate the status of stocks. 
The Pacific crab catch in 1975 was 162.2 million 
pounds, worth $61.5 million. The 1975 catch was 
15.5 million pounds less than the 1974 catch, but 
the value was $734,000 greater than the 1974 value. 
The 1975 catch of king crab—i00 million pounds 
was the highest since 1968. The rise in the king 
crab catch since 1969 indicates that the resource 
is recovering from overfishing of past years. The 
tanner crab fishery has developed rapidly over the 
period 1968-75; landings increased from 3.2 mil- 
lion pounds in 1968 to the record catch in 1974 of 
64.1 million pounds before dropping back to 46.2 
million pounds in 1975. The dungeness crab catch 
in 1975 was 16 million pounds, valued at $10.3 
million. The 1975 catch, along with the 1974 catch 
of 16 million pounds, indicates that the declining 
dungeness crab catch has stabilized since 1970. 
According to NMFS, the king and dungeness crabs 
are currently under intensive use and the tanner crabs 
are underused. 
Atlantic Groundfish 
Major Atlantic species of commercial groundfish 
include butterfish, cod, croaker, flounder, haddock, 
hakes, pollock. ocean perch, and scup. Heavy fishing 
pressure by both U.S. and foreign fishermen during 
the 1960s and early 1970s resulted in major declines 
in groundfish abundance. Off the New England 
coast the resource is estimated to have declined 45 
percent between 1963 and 1972. 
Foreign fleets have caused or contributed to the 
depletion of species, such as haddock and yellow- 
tail flounder stocks, and reduced the abundance of 
stocks of cod, ocean perch, and lower value species, 
such as red hake and silver hake. Preliminary data 
show that foreign fleets caught 363.8 million pounds, 
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