I. Executive Summary

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#999933" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04a006e0ddwnfv.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Gloucester Community Development Corporation                                            </B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gloucester Community Development Corpora"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B><A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pelagics Study"><U><B>Pelagics Study</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" background="052a0c00esnpes.png"> <div> <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pelagics Study"><U>Pelagics Study</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Table of Contents"><U>Table of Contents</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Acknowledgments"><U>Acknowledgments</U></A></div> <div> <B>I. Executive Summary</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="II. Mission and Goals of GCDC"><U>II. Mission and Goals of GCDC</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="III. Mission and Goals of Study"><U>III. Mission and Goals of Study</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IV. Administrative Report"><U>IV. Administrative Report</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="V. Gloucester Fisheries"><U>V. Gloucester Fisheries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VI. A View from Many Angles"><U>VI.  A View from Many Angles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VII. Conceptual Program of Action"><U>VII. Conceptual Program of Action</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VIII. Fisheries Management"><U>VIII. Fisheries Management</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IX. Gloucester Fish Inc. as the Seed of "><U>IX. Gloucester Fish Inc. as the Seed of a New Model of Coastal Fisheries  Management</U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0d27b330.png" border=0 width="123" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> I. Executive Summary</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The findings of this study are as follows:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     There is an abundance of pelagics in North Atlantic waters. For instance, stock assessments for herring in recent years have hovered around 3 million metric tons. The Total Allowable Catch (TAC), an amount that would not threaten the survival of the species or affect the food chain negatively, has been placed at about 200,000 metric tons. And yet, only half of the TAC has been landed in recent years. For details, see Section VII.a of the report. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     Over the course of four years of research and with the expenditure of approximately $1.2 million of federal funds, the University of Massachusetts Marine Station at Hodgkins Cove in Gloucester has developed the technology that transforms pelagics into surimi. A model plant to demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology is currently being put into operation in Iceland, at an additional expenditure of $2.6 million raised by a consortium of private and public interests. For details, see Section VII.b of the report. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     This technology allows for 100% increase in yield over existing technologies and thus, given proper control of labor and other costs, leads to prima facie evidence of financial feasibility of the project. Preliminary, overall estimates amply confirm the validity of this assumption. For details, see Section IV.a of the report.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     This is "cold technology." It relies on high speed centrifuges, water, and citric acid. There are no additives.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     The water is re-circulated three times, thus water consumption is 300 % more efficient than in other existing technologies.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     The by-products of this technology are of great potential financial interest, since they vary from pharmaceuticals to fertilizers.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     Surimi is a commodity whose worldwide market is expanding.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     With necessary adjustments, the port of Gloucester has the infrastructure capable of serving a surimi plant. For details, see Section V of the report. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     There is an interest on the waterfront in developing favorable onshore conditions and landing appropriate amounts of pelagics in Gloucester.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     There is a willingness on the waterfront to explore the potential benefits of a management model that fuses the interest of fishermen, processors and marketers. It would lead to greater efficiency, and would offer prospects of competitive advantages on the world market.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"     It is the consensus of 87 civic and public leaders, 33 boat owners or captains and 15 seafood processors and waterfront property owners we have consulted, that it is a worthwhile effort to pinpoint the details of the financial feasibility of creating a surimi plant in Gloucester.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The idea of the surimi plant becomes more generally acceptable if it is seen as the fulcrum to transform Gloucester into a leading edge seafood processing center.</B></div> <div> <B>  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>***</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The report is divided into nine sections.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I.     The first section provides an executive summary of the report.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II.     The second section provides a statement of the mission and goals of the Gloucester Community Development Corporation (GCDC).</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>III.     The third section provides a statement of the mission and goals of the study.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>IV.     The fourth section deals with such administrative questions as the potential finances of the surimi plant, matters concerning the administration of this study, and a brief description of the legal structure under which this study is being conducted and it is hoped that its recommendations will be translated into reality. In particular, it specifies that while the Gloucester Community Development Corporation is a not-for-profit entity, the proposed surimi plant will eventually have to be owned, controlled, and operated by a for-profit entity that for identification purposes is hereby called Gloucester Fish Inc.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>V.     The fifth section provides a brief report on the status of the fisheries in Gloucester.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>VI.     Through the reproduction of published articles and other documents, the sixth section provides a comprehensive view of the fisheries.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>a.     In a brief summary of attached documents, the report provides:</B></div> <div> <B>i.     The viewpoint of a federal administrator and regulator of utilization of fisheries stocks </B></div> <div> <B>ii.     The viewpoint of some environmentalists </B></div> <div> <B>iii.     The viewpoint of people who see both sides of the issue </B></div> <div> <B>iv.     The viewpoint of a local fisheries association </B></div> <div> <B>v.     The viewpoint of fishermen and fish processors.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>b.     Copy of documents.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>c.     Through a brief analysis of trade data, the report establishes a link between the proposed surimi plant and the national trade deficit. And, through an analysis of potential dangers of the trade deficit offered by two Nobel laureates in economics and MIT professors, Franco Modigliani and Robert M. Solow, the report extends that link to the national interest. The imports of fisheries products rank 13, if not 9, on the list of items that account most for our balance of trade deficit. The proposed surimi plant would contribute to a reduction of imports and expansion of exports. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>VII.     The seventh section of the report outlines the content of the proposed program of action concerning the development of the pelagic fisheries in Gloucester and covers three substantive points:  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>a.     It reviews the set of strategic decisions that lead to the proposed program of action</B></div> <div> <B>b.     It offers a brief description of the processing methodology we propose to use, and</B></div> <div> <B>c.     It describes in some detail a new form of business organization in which we hope to be able to cast the operations of the surimi plant: a model of functional integration of management tasks.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>VIII.     With the help of three papers, the eighth section of the report provides a minimal amount of information concerning the overall "culture" in which we hope to cast and then keep accounting of the daily operations of the plant from conception to operation:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>a.     The first paper, entitled "Fisheries Renewal: A Renewal of the Soul of Business," treats three substantive issues that deeply affect the daily operations of the fisheries in Gloucester and throughout the nation: 1. An understanding of the dynamics of fish populations as they affect the relative abundance of the stocks of various species of fish; 2. An understanding of the need to balance the traditional sense of independence of fishermen with the operational needs of a modern monetary economy; and, 3. A brief analysis of the benefits to be derived from the application of innovative financing techniques;</B></div> <div> <B>b.     The second paper, entitled "Arguments For and Against ITQs," treats a subject of fundamental importance to the future of the fisheries: if ITQs are introduced in the management of various fisheries, the economic and social reality of the fisheries will be radically altered;</B></div> <div> <B>c.     The third paper, entitled "the Dynamics of the Economic System," offers, in the words of a referee of the Journal of Economic Theory, a "new analytic engine" for the understanding of the economic system into which the surimi plant will operate.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>       IX.     The ninth and final section deals with the overall objective of the project. The expenditure of public money and public interest in the creation of Gloucester Fish Inc. is justified only if the operation of the firm will eventually return some benefits to the community at large. This opportunity is going to be more easily translated into reality if Gloucester Fish Inc. develops into a new model of coastal fisheries management.</B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>