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Florida has one of the most diverse agricultural economies in the United States, producing several dozen types of fruits and vegetables that are consumed within the state, across the country, and around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting policy responses occurred during the peak of spring harvest season for many crops in Florida, abruptly removing market demand from the food service industry and shifting consumer purchasing habits, which enabled insights into several aspects of the fruit and vegetable supply chain. This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted fruit and vegetable industries in Florida, how these industries responded to COVID-19 impacts, and how Florida’s experience compared to that of other states. Data are derived from several sources including a statewide survey that measured agricultural production losses in Florida resulting from COVID-19 in early 2020, interviews with Florida operations that provided insights into how the pandemic induced change across the food supply chain, and a survey of food supply chain operations in three regions of the United States conducted in 2021.

While a large number of studies have investigated seafood consumption in various markets, surprisingly little is known about the types of seafood sold in retail outlets or their product forms in th...

Regional economic assessments (REAs), including economic contribution and impact analyses, are often used in resource-based industries to inform policymakers, elected officials, and the general pub...

Seafood is the food group with the highest share traded, and the U.S. is the world’s largest seafood importer, importing 79% of the seafood consumed. Hence, a study examining the impacts of the measures to contain COVID-19 on U.S. seafood imports will not only show how U.S. seafood availability has been affected, but will also give strong indications of how resiliently the global seafood markets have worked through the pandemic. We find that U.S. imports of seafood actually increased in 2020 and 2021, suggesting supply chains were able to adapt to potential disruptions. Moreover, for the 14 largest product forms imported to the U.S., there are no strong price movements. Given that there is a global market for most species groups, this adaption also suggests that the markets have worked quite well beyond the U.S. Hence, while there have undoubtedly been market shocks associated with the COVID-19 measures such as the reduction in demand from the restaurant sector and the increased sales in the retail sector, opportunities seem to balance out challenges, and the supply chains for seafood to the U.S. have been highly resilient.

Discussions about global aquaculture production and prospects for future growth largely focus on Asia, where most global production takes place. Countries in Asia accounted for about 89% of global ...

Recently, a great deal of research has focused on culturing marine baitfish for the recreational fishing market but there is limited information on the marine bait industry. Developing protocols re...

The lost recreational use values from the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were estimated from cancelled recreational trips to Northwest Florida. The impacts were calculated using the travel cost method for a single site with primary data collected from an online survey conducted after the spill. The data were collected in August and September 2011 with respondents residing in 13 US states that constitute the primary domestic market for coastal tourism to Northwest Florida. The survey gathered information from respondents on their recreational visits, including detailed information on their past trips and the number of trips cancelled to the study region due to the oil spill. The empirical analysis involves the estimation of a random parameter negative binomial count data demand model. Using this model we find significant preference heterogeneity surrounding the effects of the oil spill. Aggregate damages are estimated to be $207 million.

The U.S. commercial red snapper IFQ program was the first catch share management system implemented in the Gulf of Mexico. The program has been successful in meeting its major goals of ending derby-style fishing and reducing overcapacity in the harvest sector, but several concerns regarding the socioeconomic impacts of the program have been raised. To address these concerns, the management agency initiated a fishery management plan amendment to develop potential modifications to the program. This analysis describes the proposed policy changes, identifies the key outcomes, and assesses the impacts on distinct participant types using historic harvest data, quota trading patterns, and existing estimates of industry concentration. There are three implied regulatory objectives, as all proposed modifications would either increase ownership of shares by harvesters, limit consolidation in the harvest sector, or increase harvest flexibility. The corresponding effects on stakeholders could vary quite substantially as each objective and the associated alternative policies would affect the size and composition of multiple markets that collectively affect socioeconomic outcomes. The approach to evaluating existing catch share programs and the associated findings in this paper are important for management agencies charged with adhering to federal policies and guidance concerning distributional outcomes.

Portfolio selection is a flexible tool that can be used to support natural resource decision-making to optimize provision of ecosystem services. The natural resource portfolio literature includes applications in fisheries, forestry, agriculture, spatial planning, invasive pest and disease surveillance, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation, among others. We contribute to this growing literature by proposing a set of essential questions to guide the development and implementation of empirical portfolios for natural resource management that deal with (1) the nature and objectives of the portfolio manager, (2) the definition of assets to be included in the portfolio, (3) the way in which returns and risk are measured and distributed, and (4) the definition of constraints in the programming problem. The approach is illustrated using landings data from the Colombian Pacific, a data limited fishery, to set catch limits in fisheries at the ecosystem level. We also develop a set of constraints in the programming problem to simulate potential policy options regarding resource sustainability and social equity. The resulting efficient catch portfolios can be used to optimize the flow of provisioning ecosystem services from this fishery.

Collaboration in a natural resource management setting is vital to effective management. This paper evaluates collaboration and information and data exchange among organizations involved in the management of the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB). As in other major river basins throughout the world, the LMB faces complex management challenges related to transboundary cooperation and competing demands from users in different countries. In response to stakeholder interest in strengthening collaboration and information sharing and identifying organizations well positioned to serve as research and information hubs to foster collaboration in LMB resource management, we conducted an organizational network survey of national, regional and international organizations that work in the LMB. An examination of network structure was conducted using key network measures and Jackson's (2017) social capital typology was used to examine which organizations in the network were well suited to serve as research and information hubs. The analysis showed that while the LMB network was relatively dense compared to other natural resource research and/or management networks, a lack of connections across national and organizational type boundaries could be a hindrance to transboundary collaboration and communication. The analysis also identified two organizations that were particularly well situated within the LMB network to act as brokers for knowledge and information exchange, with each organization occupying a complementary position in the network. This study illustrates the utility of social network analysis in identifying opportunities and hindrances for collaboration and information exchange and the potential roles of key actors in complex multi-scaled natural resource management contexts.

Salinity tolerance is one of several important physiological attributes that determine invasion success and the pattern of dispersal of introduced aquatic organisms. Introduced freshwater fishes able to tolerate elevated salinities have the potential to invade and exploit brackish-water (mixohaline) environments and use estuaries and coastal waters as ‘bridges’ for dispersing from one coastal river system to another. Several members of the neotropical suckermouth armoured catfish genus Pterygoplichthys (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) have established non-native populations in inland waters of North and Central America, Asia and islands in the Caribbean, and Pacific and Indian oceans. Loricariids are generally considered to be strictly freshwater; but a few naturally occur in mesohaline habitats. Catch and habitat data from 2004–2005 and 2009–2011 fish surveys in the Grijalva–Usumacinta River delta region (south-eastern Mexico) confirmed that introduced Pterygoplichthys populations established in upstream freshwater sites (where these catfish are abundant) have recently dispersed into downstream oligohaline and mesohaline estuarine habitats. During 2009–2011 surveys, these non-native catfish – tentatively identified as P. pardalis or its hybrids – were found in sites with salinities ranging from 1 to 8 ppt (mean 5.2 ppt). Acute-salinity experiments were conducted with Pterygoplichthys (110–302 mm standard length, N = 140) captured in the Grijalva–Usumacinta Basin to determine upper salinity tolerance levels. Tests demonstrated that individuals maintained in salinities of 0.2 ppt were able to survive abrupt (acute) exposure to salinities up to 10 ppt with little mortality over 10 days (240 h experimental endpoint). A few individuals survived abrupt exposure to 11 and 12 ppt for 20 or more hours, although none survived more than a few hours at 16 ppt or greater. These field and experimental results provide quantitative evidence that non-native Pterygoplichthys are physiologically capable of surviving mesohaline conditions for extended periods and that non-native populations in Mexico are invading and presumably exploiting estuarine and other coastal environments, perhaps as feeding areas and potentially as dispersal routes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Recent media reports have documented the fraudulent mislabeling of grouper at several Florida restaurants whereby customers were sold lower-valued species instead of grouper. This article uses data from 400 seafood eating Floridians to determine awareness of reported substitution, effects on consumption, and willingness to pay (WTP) for a product integrity labeling program. Using a novel frequency-based polychotomous choice (PC) contingent valuation format, designed for products that are purchased often, WTP is estimated based on level of commitment to the product integrity labeling program. Sixty-two percent of respondents were aware of the reported substitution, 57% of those changed their seafood consumption, and respondents were willing to pay an average premium of $0.83 to $3.18 for grouper entrees at restaurants with a product integrity label. The factors that helped to explain the change in consumption and WTP were identified and can be used to help improve current labeling and marketing ef...

We present a novel technique for analyzing price dispersion in non-centralized quota lease markets where pairwise negotiations determine price and price information from past transactions is not generally available. The technique does not require fishing cost or ex-vessel price data and employs social network analysis metrics (namely degree centrality and constraint) to measure access to information and network position for buyers and sellers. Our method is applied to the Gulf of Mexico red snapper quota lease market and finds that certain quota lease traders with larger information-sharing networks or stronger network positions have greater negotiating power. Also, average quota lease prices varied by region even though there are no geographic trading restrictions. Results indicate social networks are correlated with price dispersion and inefficiencies in the trading markets that can undermine the success of catch share programs that seek to improve fishery profits and reduce overcapacity. JEL C...