pounds. This appearance of constancy is somewhat misleading, however,

in that from 1972 to 1976 the total landings of the primary target

species, red snapper and grouper, continued to decline. Combined land-

ings of these primary species have decreased 37 percent from 22.5

million pounds in 1965 to 14.0 million pounds in 1976. Thus, the

apparent constancy of total reef fish landings is attributable to in-

creased landings of the less desired reef species. The behavior of

total landings since 1972 is especially interesting given the fact that

fishing effort as measured by the number of vessels operating in the

fishery has increased consistently during this time. Within the 1957

to 1976 period covered by current available data, three states--Florida,

Alabama and Mississippi--experienced their lowest average catch per

vessel in 1976 (Appendix B).

 In spite of the trends in total catch and catch per vessel, only

 partial conclusions can be offered with respect to the biological status

 of the reef fish stocks and the extent to which economic efficiency

 exists in the fishery. The Gulf of Mexico reef fish stocks are typical

 of biological populations in that any given level of stock size

 (measured by either numbers or weight) is capable of producing a sus-

 tainable yield. That is, a given proportion of the population may be

 harvested in any given time period while leaving the underlying stock

 size unchanged. Biological theory has maintained that, in general,

 sustainable yields can range from zero to some unique maximum level,

 termed maximum sustainable yield (MSY) (Gulland, 1965). Furthermore,

 this body of theory when used in conjunction with economic theory has

 suggested that the common property nature of the fishery in combination

 with the interdependency of producing units would, under a competitive