NMFS NUMBER: 93-SER-014
Finfish Processing Activities of Federally Managed Species,
Particularly Reef Fish, and Potential Impact of Regulation
Keithly, Walter R. Jr., and Martin, Anthony
National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Region, 9721
Executive Center Drive, North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702.
PHONE: (813) 570-5324
objective of the project was to provide an economic analysis
of the southeast finfish processing sector, specifically
the reef fish fishery, to evaluate the impact of different
management options. Results of the study indicate
potentially large underreporting of reeffish processing
establishments (this does not include the undereporting
by firms who report no reeffish processing activities
to NMFS). The underreporting was particularly apparent
with respect to grouper and amberjack. For example, the
29 firms surveyed for purposes of analysis in this study
reported 2.4 million pounds of processed grouper products
and 459 thousand pounds of processed amberjack products.
Total industry production of these two species, as reported
in the NMFS processor database, equaled 2.5 million pounds
and 270 thousand pounds, respectively. Hence, an incomplete
survey of the population of identified firms accounted
for essentially all of the grouper production reported
by NMFS and almost twice the reported amberjack production.
Two possible reasons or an amalgam thereof can be advanced
for the apparent differences in overall production figures.
First, identified processors could be underreporting actual
processing figures in the NMFS end-of-the-year processor
survey. Alternatively, processors may have overreported
their actual production in the current survey. This second
explanation seems somewhat remote, however, given the
fact that many of the interviewed processors provided
us with their actual records from which we derived annual
and monthly figures. This calls into question the
value of using NMFS processed finfish data for purposes
of analysis and leads to the conclusion that mandatory
reporting by processors may enhance the NMFS database.