An easy way to determine this is by the salary you would need to pay an individual of your competency to perform your duties, or what you might be paid to work in the same capacity for another similar operation. The dollar value of your management, knowledge, and expertise in your fishery business. A fair return to total investment in your fishing business. Examples include gear repair, net mending, vessel repair, bookkeeping, etc. Items 6 through 9 are called opportunity costs.
Opportunity costs are simply the returns foregone from the next best use of that resource.
Hopefully, the return to the present use of the resources in its present use is greater than what could have been earned elsewhere. If the opportunity cost is greater than the return produced in the present use, then that resource is not being used efficiently. In this case, we are considering the factors of time, labor, management skills, fishing skills and return to your business investment. The following example in calculating returns to investment, labor and management follows the costs involved in operating a 60-foot shrimping vessel in coastal waters. Keep in mind that you can easily plug your figures in for a trapnet, shore seine, gill net or charter fishery operation in this example.