The objective of this study was to identify and investigate the underlying basis for the increasing volume of U.S. imports of fishery products from 1958-1969. It was recognized that many institutional constraints contributed to the high marginal cost of domestic harvesting which placed the United States at a comparative disadvantage in fish production. However, the fact that both shrimp and tuna were in great demand by American consumers at the same time that these fishery resources were near their maximum sustainable yield contributed to an increased volume of shrimp and tuna imports. It was hypothesized that increasing domestic demand, together with an inelastic domestic supply schedule, contributed to increased prices and encouraged U.S. importation of fishery products. It was also hypothesized that these phenomena resulted in U.S. direct investment abroad for the exploitation of foreign fishery resources. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory of trade was utilized to examine the relationship of this hypothesis to other empirical studies of trade. A monthly time series regression analysis of the domestic Gulf and South Atlantic shrimp industry from 1958 through 1969 established that both the domestic supply schedule and the domestic demand schedule for these shrimp were price inelastic. Domestic demand was income elastic. An attempt to specify and estimate an import demand function was unsuccessful due to the lack of data necessary to estimate the simultaneous effects of import supply. However, after hypothesizing several supply relationships in a simultaneous model, it became apparent that increasing world and U.S. per capita incomes would put strong upward pressure on U.S. wholesale prices, ceteris paribus. These findings are not totally applicable to the U.S. groundfish industry; however, they are appropriate with reference to the tuna industry. Policy implications of these results were examined from a consumer, fisherman, national, and world perspective. Many policies which would benefit one group would not necessarily benefit all groups. Because free trade results in income redistribution between nations and individuals, the answer to the question of whether or not increasing imports are a cause for concern is contingent upon the identification of policy objectives. / Graduation date: 1974