Browsing by Subject "Fisheries economics"
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Item Open Access Effects of the Global Seafood Trade on Health and Nutritional Security(2019-04-24) Dietz, David; Colson Leaning, DustinThe global seafood trade represents the world’s largest food commodity market by value, generating massive economic flows across nations of all development levels. On top of the financial importance of this supply chain, seafood provides a broad range of nutritional benefits, from fats and proteins to key micronutrients. Building off of the dynamics of the Seafood Trade Deficit hypothesis, which asserts that developing nations export higher-value seafood than they import, this study seeks to determine whether such a value exchange extends to nutrition, and if the price of seafood is positively correlated with nutritional density. Using a six-nation, one-year comparative case-study approach, a global seafood trade database was generated. This database maps all international seafood trades by species and product type and affixes unique nutritional profiles for each good. This data demonstrates additional quantitative support of the Seafood Trade Deficit, as well as economic trade flows that suggest unique price-points of seafood depending on the development status of each nation participating. A hedonic pricing model displays strong evidence that the finfish market has a radically different relationship between price and nutrition compared to all other seafood product types. While price was positively correlated to macro-nutritional density of protein and fat in finfish, the market for other seafood products did not demonstrate the same positive correlation between price and nutritional benefit. Looking forward, we recommend expanding the database to include seafood trade across all countries within a longer time frame to increase the scope of reference and refine our findings. For more information, please contact David at ddietz92@gmail.com or Dustin at dzcolson@gmail.com.Item Open Access EVALUATING TRADE-OFFS IN AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT PARADIGM: AN EXPLORATION THROUGH ANALYSIS OF THE ATLANTIC BUTTERFISH AND LONGFIN SQUID FISHERIES(2013-04-25) Rogers, Anthony; Carlisle, Keith; Wang, JiaxiThe Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, our client for this masters project, is evaluating how best to transition from a primarily single-species management approach to an integrated multi-species management paradigm. In this connection, we explore how economic considerations may be incorporated into an integrated multi-species management approach by focusing on two closely associated stocks managed by the Council: longfin squid and Atlantic butterfish. We take several different approaches in our analysis of the two fisheries, our ultimate objectives being (i) to characterize the behavior of the fleets based upon historical landings data and geospatial analysis; and (ii) to provide the Council with insight into the potential impact of management constraints and ecosystem interactions on economic benefits in the fisheries. To illustrate potential impacts to economic benefits, we develop a two-species bioeconomic model and derive optimal harvest levels for the stocks, taking into account varying degrees of management constraints and ecosystem interactions. Based upon our analysis of landings data, we found that the Council’s allocation of the longfin squid landings quota among trimester management periods is no longer representative of actual landings in the fishery throughout the year. As a result, there is potential that the fishery may be forced to close prematurely in the summer months, thereby reducing economic benefits to participants who are highly dependent on revenues from the fishery. We also found, based upon our geospatial analysis of butterfish landings and butterfish bycatch in the longfin squid fishery, that a statistically significant correlation exists between the distance to shore from the point of catch and the butterfish bycatch rate. With respect to the model, we explored the importance of three parameters not generally included in a single-species model: predation, bycatch by fishermen, and benefits to the longfin squid population of additional butterfish. We found that all three have potential economic impacts. We also found that the amount of the total allowable catch of butterfish allocated to a bycatch cap imposed on the longfin squid fishery is higher than necessary to prevent early closure of the longfin squid fishery and could result in lost revenues in the butterfish fishery.Item Open Access Fisheries Catch Shares Management in Argentina: Institutional Design, Economic Efficiency, and Social Outcomes(2019) Stefanski, Stephanie FrancesWhile property rights-based management is theoretically purported enhance economic efficiency in fisheries by reducing over-capitalization and extending fishing seasons, the social and economic empirical outcomes are less comprehensively understood. International adoption of rights-based management to manage pollution, fisheries, and water-quality increasingly modifies these management approaches to achieve a wider set of policy goals. Argentina, in particular, interjected economic, social, and ecological objectives into a fisheries individual and transferable quota (ITQ) program through a use-it-or-lose-it penalty, a unidirectional quota transfer restriction between coastal and offshore processing vessels, and a social quota reserve.
The present dissertation utilizes historical data, including legislative documents from 1998 to 2016, monthly fisheries effort and landings data from 2007-2016, and annual data on quota allocation and transfers from 2010-2016, to evaluate the process through which Argentine designed its ITQ program and its social and economic outcomes.
The first chapter is an institutional analysis of the ITQ program in Argentina and lends insight to how and why configurations of rights-based managed differ across socio-economic contexts. The next two chapters build on the results of the first chapter to evaluate to what extent it achieved social and economic objectives through two specific policy modifications: a use-it-or-lose-it penalty and a social quota reserve.
In the second chapter, I develop a two-stage empirical model to evaluate how ecological and economic uncertainties influence intra-seasonal production decisions in an ITQ fishery. The results demonstrate that fresh catch fishing vessels are disproportionately impacted by this policy, relative to offshore processing fishing vessels. This unintended consequence of a policy meant to protect small and medium sized vessel owners could be due to an interaction with the unidirectional trading restriction or the substitution of fishing effort into the more lucrative shrimp fishery.
Finally, I estimate determinants of fishing vessel exit from an ITQ-regulated fishery and evaluate to what extent additional social quota allocation extends the expected lifespan of coastal, fresh catch fishing vessels in that fishery. The results demonstrate that both social quota allocation and participation in the shrimp fishery extend a fishing vessel’s participation in the ITQ-regulated hake fishery.
Together, these results suggest that policy modifications to rights-based management regimes can influence social and economic outcomes, although whether the intended outcomes are achieved depends on the heterogeneity of the fishery, the ability of fishing vessels to substitute effort into non-regulated fisheries, and macroeconomic conditions, such as fuel and export prices.
Item Open Access Human Migration and Resource use in Sulawesi Fishing CommunitiesKramer, R; Simanjuntak, S.The relationship between human population changes and the use of coastal resources in several communities in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is examined using a combination of demographic and econometric analysis. The study area has some of Indonesia's richest marine biodiversity and a number of important coastal resources that support the livelihood of a large number of fishing communities. Following focus groups and pretesting, direct interview surveys were conducted in 1999 with 601 households whose primary occupation was fishing. Demographic analysis reveals that migration is the major driver of human population growth in the area. Econometric analysis is used to explore the effects of migration and other socio economic variables on fishing activity in the area. Recommendations for resource managers include greater monitoring of resource impacts of migrants and increased involvement of local communities in the development of regional fishing policies.