imum profit and thus has something to lose in a more controll- 

 ed market. 



Fisheries management itself is directly affected. The delayed 

 recruitment brought about by the larger mesh would allow 

 another survey data point on population size to be analyzed. 

 This should improve estimates of projected landings which in 

 itself could have many ramifications. 



Any management regime based on some aspect of gear con- 

 trol (mesh size) can have significant long-term effects. Larger 

 mesh saves energy by creating less drag. This in turn would 

 allow fishermen to use larger nets which may be a lot more ef- 

 fective, thus increasing CPUE. If the mesh regulation tends to 

 be restrictive, as would be the case if it effectively limited ef- 

 fort, fishermen would tend to shift to other gears. If this shift 

 is to gill nets, for example, this can lead to increased gear con- 

 flict situations and product quality problems. Very little is 

 known about the destructive fishing aspects of other gears and 

 these impacts can be significant. This would increase the need 

 for gear research to answer management questions. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 



When the idea of managing the New England groundfishery 

 by mesh size regulation in lieu of catch quotas was proposed in 

 1977, very few people actively supported it. I would like to 

 acknowledge those members of the New England Fishery 

 Management Council who promoted this study, the captains 

 and crews of the eight fishing vessels that volunteered to con- 

 duct the work, and the state and federal scientists and 

 managers that participated at sea and ashore. In all, over 100 

 people devoted significant time and effort because they be- 

 lieved there had to be a better way to manage the ground- 

 fishery. The industry today owes a debt of gratitude to these 

 individuals. I hope this report does justice to their efforts. 



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