Scope


 The scope of the analysis is confined solely to the commercial

fishing sectors for Florida West Coast, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

and Texas. In spite of the size of the recreational fishery in terms of

catch, severe data limitations preclude any detailed analysis of this

sector. This, however, should have only minimal effects on the analysis

of the commercial sector. The GMFMC has established that the commercial

and recreational sectors are, to a large extent, geographically distinct

in regard to the location of fishing activity.

 The data utilized in this study consist primarily of secondary

data reported annually by the National Marine Fisheries Service. While

these data constitute the "best available" data, its highly aggregate

nature has forced considerable simplification in building the empirical

models. Within the context of limited data, it is anticipated that some

of the theoretical and statistical formulations presented will prove

useful to others engaged in the empirical analysis of the fisheries

under similar data confines.

 Chapter II presents a review of current bioeconomic theory and

develops a theoretical model of a multi-sector fishery with variable

output prices. Chapter III presents the empirical specification of the

catch and price equations for each state participating in the GMRFF.

Also included is a discussion of the estimators utilized in estimating

these equations. The resulting estimated equations are discussed and

used to estimate maximum economic yield in Chapter IV. Chapter V con-

tains a summary of this study and all conclusions which have been

rendered. Also included are suggestions for further research.