Search

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2009.03.002 Byline: Joshua K. Abbott (a), James E. Wilen (b) Keywords: Recreational fisheries; Rent dissipation; Individual transferable quotas; Bioeconomic modeling Abstract: Recreational fisheries are increasingly important in fisheries management; for some species, recreational take rivals or exceeds the amount harvested by commercial fishermen. Most recreational fisheries are regulated with gear restrictions, bag limits, and time/area closures, but there is increasing interest in the market-based solutions employed in commercial fisheries -- this despite the lack of an adequate bioeconomic theory of the joint commercial/recreational aspects of many recreational fisheries. This paper integrates a detailed production specification with traditional bioeconomic tools in order to better understand the implications of rationalization schemes targeted at the charter sector. While confirming some of the qualitative conclusions of the commercial fisheries literature on open access and regulated open access our model also generates rich and novel predictions with respect to input choices, the number of vessels and congestion externalities. We devise a system of instruments that generate efficient outcomes and extensively discuss issues associated with their real-world implementation. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, PO Box 875502, Tempe, AZ 85287-5502, USA (b) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA Article History: Received 31 August 2007

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2008.04.003 Byline: Joshua K. Abbott (a), James E. Wilen (b) Keywords: Bycatch; Fisheries management; Quotas; Common property; Game theory Abstract: Many fisheries around the world are plagued with the problem of bycatch -- the inadvertent harvesting and discard of non-targeted species. Bycatch occurs when targeted and non-targeted species coincide in the same habitat and gear is imperfectly selective. One of the prevailing methods of controlling bycatch is the common-pool quota system. Under this system, biologists set total allowable catches (TACs) for both the targeted and non-targeted species, and the fishing season is closed when one of these TACs binds. We develop a predictive model of a renewable resource that is regulated with this kind of common-pool quota system. The model demonstrates that the equilibrium will generally be characterized by excessive discards, shortened seasons, and foregone target species harvest. These results occur even with very efficient (low bycatch) fishing gear. We examine the sensitivity of our predictions to changes in technological parameters and degrees of spatial correlation of target and non-target species. Finally, we derive the optimal bycatch penalty function and describe its significance in light of various policy options available to regulators. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, PO Box 875502, Tempe, AZ 85287-5502, USA (b) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA Article History: Received 6 February 2006

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2008.08.001 Byline: Martin D. Smith (a), James N. Sanchirico (b), James E. Wilen (c) Keywords: Bioeconomics; Spatial-dynamics; Metapopulation; Spatial fishery; Location choice; Marine Protected Area (MPA) Abstract: Spatial-dynamic processes in renewable resource economics pose difficult conceptual, analytical, empirical, and institutional challenges that are distinct from either spatial or dynamic problems. We describe the challenges and conceptual approaches using both continuous and discrete depictions of space and summarize key findings. Using a metapopulation model of the fishery and simulated economic and ecological data, we show that it is possible in certain circumstances to recover both biological and economic parameters of a linked spatial-dynamic system from only economic data. We illustrate the application empirically with data from the Gulf of Mexico reef-fish fishery. We conclude with a discussion of key policy and institutional design issues involved in managing spatial-dynamic systems. Author Affiliation: (a) Nicholas School of the Environment and Department of Economics, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA (b) Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA and University Fellow, Resources for the Future (c) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA Article History: Received 30 July 2007

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2004.11.001 Byline: James N. Sanchirico (a), James E. Wilen (b) Keywords: Fisheries management; Spatial management; Price instruments; Zoning; Metapopulation Abstract: We investigate the characteristics of an optimally managed spatially explicit renewable resource system. The bioeconomic system is depicted with a metapopulation model where the subpopulations are connected by dispersal processes and are affected by the spatial distribution of harvesting effort. We characterize the optimal way to distribute harvesting effort over space and time in order to optimize returns from this spatial/dynamic system. We also investigate how the optimal spatial allocation of effort, harvesting, and biomass compare with second-best allocations that ignore spatial processes in this system. We find that optimal instruments reflect the interplay between the spatial gradient of rents and the spatial gradient of biological dispersal. Using a simple parameterization to explore qualitative properties in several specific examples, we find that second-best solutions blend or average results of the differentiated case and differ in intuitive ways from first-best optima. Author Affiliation: (a) Resources for the Future, Quality of the Environment Division, 1616 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA (b) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis, USA Article History: Received 25 March 2004; Revised 31 August 2004

A study on the potential complexity of interactions between markets, product quality, excess effort, and the regulatory behavior in fisheries is presented using a model. Two product types, processed and storable are assumed in the model. The results obtained show that rents are dissipated not only because excessive inputs raise costs, but also because inferior product types reduce revenue.

Marine biologists have shown virtually unqualified support for managing fisheries with marine reserves, signifying a new resource management paradigm that recognizes the importance of spatial processes in exploited systems. The optimistic conclusions about reserves may be an artifact of simplifying assumptions that ignore economic behavior.

A model of regulated open access resource use that considers the impact of regulations and the regulatory structure in the fishing industry can be used to describe the operations of many of the world's fisheries. The model also considers the regulatory structure as important as industry behaviour and biological dynamics. The assumption that regulators are goal-oriented and that harvest quotas are set by determining season lengths based on the industry fishing capacity are other important aspects of the model.

Optimal control is known to require first-order necessary conditions for choosing the horizon and endpoints. Second-order necessary conditions are derived. An economic interpretation for two popular economic models are provided. Primal and primal-dual methods characteriize the comparative static properties of the endpoint and horizon choices. An example of the comparative static results is also presented.

Issues concerning the contribution made by environmental economists to the development of fisheries and fishery policy between 1974 and 1998 are presented.

A renewable resource exploitation model that integrates intertemporal dynamics and spatial movement is presented. This proposed biological model was designed based on HS Gordon and Vernon Smith's theory on rent dissipation process with Ricardian notions that claims that usage of resources across space is dependent on relative profitabilities. Populations structure is characterized by the proposed model as spatially interconnected and is affected by stress patchiness, heterogeneity and interactions among and between patches or habitats.

The effects of marine reserve creation were investigated using a dynamic and spatial model of renewable resource exploitation.

Abstract: The two most profitable fisheries in the Galapagos Islands, red spiny lobster (Panulirus penicillatus) and sea cucumber (Isostichopus fuscus), are facing steep declines in abundance and may be on the verge of collapse. This state of affairs has emerged in part because of command and control fisheries policies that neglected the importance of the behavior of the fishing fleet itself. Here we attempt to describe and explain the factors influencing the fishing behavior of the Galapagos red spiny lobster fishing fleet. We estimated a set of econometric models based on a random utility maximization process to forecast how changes in the immediate circumstances (economic, biological, climatic and oceanographic) impact voluntary fishing choices via the personal costs and benefits of various decisions. We focused on the factors that affect not only the decision to participate in fishing but also the decision of where to fish. We then use these models to determine the revenue elasticities for each fishing zone and to analyze the overall response of the Galapagos fleet to hypothetical closures of fishing zones. Our results provide some empirical benchmarks from which it is possible to identify in advance problems related to the spatial management of the red spiny lobster fishery and their potential solutions. For example, we found that fisherman from San Cristobal Island have a strong preference for fishing sites on Floreana Island, which is geographically closer to Santa Cruz Island. This could lead to conflicts between the San Cristobal and Santa Cruz fishing fleets if rights-based fishery management were implemented. We expect that our analysis will be valuable to policy makers when designing new types of management plans for Galapagos fisheries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the potential for implementing individual transferable quota (ITQ) schemes in commercial recreational fisheries, focusing particularly on charter and headboat fisheries. After a brief discussion of ITQs in commercial fisheries, the paper discusses the manner in which rents get dissipated in commercial recreational fisheries. Fishing mortality in recreational fisheries is determined as a joint outcome of angler behavior and trip supply. In the recreational sector under open access conditions, there are likely to be too many vessels providing too many trips at prices that are too low. Vessel input configurations are likely to be distorted in a manner that generates excessive fishing mortality. Designing ITQs for recreational fisheries requires consideration of issues not prominent in the design of commercial fisheries. Among the most important is the manner in which angler preferences and types affect overall mortality from both landings and discards. While catch and release fisheries and pure food fish recreational fisheries are relatively easy to manage with recreational ITQs, fisheries with both angler types present difficult monitoring problems that add complexities to ITQ design. Various ways to design programs that account for both landings and discard mortalities and that generate incentives for anglers and vessel owners to reduce discard mortality are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The comment by Castrejón and Charles is a useful summary of older, less-well-known gray literature regarding Galapagos fisheries. Their comment adds a helpful historical perspective to our original paper, which presented the first quantitative analysis of historical catch data in those fisheries, but which was not intended as a comprehensive historical review of the subject. Future efforts should combine our results with this historical perspective to achieve better management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]