A total of 540 fish were collected at random from the catch of commercial trawlers during 1982 -83 and 1992 -93.
Deep trawlers were the single largest harvesting sector in terms of total value of output and net earnings throughout the simulation period.
Fish were sorted on board by species, and stored in baskets with ice in the cool room of the trawler.
A number of trawlers were converted and a number of new purse seiners, designed to fish farther offshore, were constructed.
The effort levels of day trawlers and gillnets were reduced during the first four years.
The profit margins for purse seines, single-day trawlers and gillnets were relatively less to begin with.
On the contrary, deep trawlers (35 per cent) had high profit margins among mechanized sectors.
In our study, the partial removal of cost-inefficient trawlers and gillnets helped ease the crowding effects early on.
