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Summary: A study of the U.S. commercial fishing industry was performed to delineate policy issues, options, and costs of revitalizing the industry. The United States has almost one-fifth of the world's marine fish resources within 200 miles of its coastline.
In spite of the abundance of resources, the U.S. fishing industry is not as strong and prosperous as would be expected. Domestic landings of edible fish have remained constant since 1960 and some segments of the harvesting sector are in a chronically depressed state. The demand for fish has increased but U.S. landings have supplied a declining share of the domestic market while imports of edible species have increased sharply to a point where it represents 62 percent of the total demand for edible fish products. This resulted in a fish trade deficit of $1.4 billion in 1974. Opportunities exist to strengthen and expand the industry by increasing the harvest and the efficiency of harvesting operations and overcoming barriers in processing, marketing, and distributing fish and fish products.
