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In September 2017, Hurricane Maria hit the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico threatening the economic and social viability of small-scale fisheries. This study describes the main results of a rapid socio...

The targeting of spawning aggregations is one of the most significant pressures facing coral reef ecosystems. The use of seasonal closures has been advanced for protecting aggregating fisheries for which managers have limited information on the location and timing of their reproductive events; however, few studies have examined the performance of these types of closures. This study assesses the perceptions of 150 fishers regarding the performance of seasonal closures in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Our results show that most fishers perceived that seasonal closures are effective fishery management measures. Across the six seasonal closures examined, fishers reported that these closures protected spawning aggregations and, to a lesser degree, increased fish abundance. These measures, however, did not always improve fishers' livelihoods nor result in their support for the seasonal closures. The loss of resource and market access during periods of high consumer demand and overlapping seasonal closures were the main causes of financial distress. Fishers indicated that the performance of the seasonal closures could be improved by increasing investments in monitoring, control, and surveillance capabilities, and adjusting their timing to accommodate economic and local ecological considerations. Fishers argued that revisions were necessary because some species spawned year-round or outside closure windows. Some fishers also called for replacing seasonal closures with alternative management measures (e.g., area-time closures, marine protected areas, gear restrictions), conducting additional scientific research, and improving fisher education. This work underscores that beliefs about conservation and livelihood outcomes are closely linked to the quality of management, the importance of conducting periodic assessments, and engaging fishers in decision-making to increase accountability, transparency, and support for management interventions.

This study investigates the relationship between diversification, technical efficiency (TE), and productivity in the US Gulf of Mexico commercial red snapper fishery. We estimated a vessel-level input-oriented stochastic distance frontier simultaneously with a technical inefficiency effects model using a 20-year unbalanced panel (1997–2016). The panel documented the fishing activities of 1,255 fishing vessels, 10 years before and after the adoption of the red snapper catch share program in 2007. Our study points to the desirability of diversification in catch share fisheries. It shows that red snapper fishers who diversified their fishing portfolio tended to be more productive and technically efficient. The study found evidence that diversification resulted in cost savings from catching multiple species (diversification economies), and that the productivity of the fleet increased (diversification efficiencies). The analysis also showed that the TE of the fleet increased in the catch share period. The average TE rose from 0.78 in the command and control period to 0.85 in the catch share period. Higher TE scores were associated with higher levels of diversification. Our results suggest that policies that encourage diversification such as reducing quota ownership caps, adjusting quota carryover provisions, and providing governmental assistance to increase participation in other fisheries deserve further attention., Este estudio investiga la relación entre la diversificación, la eficiencia técnica (TE) y la productividad en la pesquería comercial de pargo rojo del Golfo de México de los EE. UU. Estimamos una frontera de distancia estocástica orientada a la entrada a nivel del buque simultáneamente con un modelo de efectos de ineficiencia técnica utilizando un panel desequilibrado de 20 años (1997-2016). El panel documentó las actividades pesqueras de 1.255 embarcaciones pesqueras, 10 años antes y después de la adopción del programa de captura compartida de huachinango en 2007. Nuestro estudio apunta a la conveniencia de diversificar las pesquerías de captura compartida. Muestra que los pescadores de huachinango que diversificaron su cartera de pesca tendieron a ser más productivos y técnicamente eficientes. El estudio encontró evidencia de que la diversificación resultó en ahorros de costos al capturar múltiples especies (economías de diversificación), y que la productividad de la flota aumentó (eficiencias de diversificación). El análisis también mostró que el TE de la flota aumentó en el período de cuota de captura. El TE medio aumentó de 0,78 en el período de mando y control a 0,85 en el período de captura compartida. Los puntajes más altos de TE se asociaron con niveles más altos de diversificación. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las políticas que fomentan la diversificación, como la reducción de los límites máximos de propiedad de cuotas, el ajuste de las disposiciones de transferencia de cuotas y la prestación de asistencia gubernamental para aumentar la participación en otras pesquerías, merecen más atención. Los puntajes más altos de TE se asociaron con niveles más altos de diversificación. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las políticas que fomentan la diversificación, como la reducción de los límites máximos de propiedad de cuotas, el ajuste de las disposiciones de transferencia de cuotas y la prestación de asistencia gubernamental para aumentar la participación en otras pesquerías, merecen más atención. Los puntajes más altos de TE se asociaron con niveles más altos de diversificación. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las políticas que fomentan la diversificación, como la reducción de los límites máximos de propiedad de cuotas, el ajuste de las disposiciones de transferencia de cuotas y la prestación de asistencia gubernamental para aumentar la participación en otras pesquerías, merecen más atención.

The gill and trammel net ban and buyback were two of the most politically sensitive management reforms in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The purpose of the net ban was to protect parrotfish populations, reduce by-catch, and minimize gear-habitat interactions whereas the aim of the buyback was to mitigate the economic hardship imposed by the ban. This paper describes the development of the net fishery and management efforts to protect parrotfish populations and coral reef habitats focusing on the performance of the ban and buyback. The study drew from 43 in-person interviews with select user groups and secondary sources such as government reports and databases. Our analysis suggests that these reforms had limited success. While local fishery managers promoted a participatory approach, shifting policy directives, implementation delays, limited buyback assistance, and high forgone earnings had unforeseen consequences. Most net fishermen substituted the banned nets with ‘modified’ small mesh seine nets, which were opposed by most stakeholders since they felt that their use defeated the purpose of the ban. The study also found that, with the exception of curtailing the dumping of spoiled fish on land, conflicting views about the health of parrotfish and surgeonfish stocks, excessive by-catch levels, and damaging gear-habitat interactions remained. Most net fishermen believed that the ban had advanced resource conservation; however, other stakeholders had more guarded or skeptical views. The Crucian experience with these reforms suggests that incentive-based regulatory approaches deserve greater attention as a means to improve management outcomes and minimize distrust in the management process.

This study estimates the economic cost of reducing the take of sea turtles in the U.S. Northwest Atlantic Commercial Pelagic Longline Fishery. Sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The analysis uses an output-oriented stochastic distance frontier method and draws from a highly unbalanced trip-level panel dataset that had 60 unique vessels that fished between 2006 and 2016. Our results show that mitigating the take of sea turtles is costly. On average, the cost of reducing the take of one sea turtle (or shadow price) equals $36,957. Shadow prices show significant temporal variability and vary by the targeting behavior of the fleets (i.e., tuna vs. swordfish trips). We also find that the technical efficiency of the fishing fleets varies by its targeting behavior. We conclude discussing bycatch management insights from our research.

Many fishers diversify their income by participating in multiple fisheries, which has been shown to significantly reduce year-to-year variation in income. The ability of fishers to diversify has become increasingly constrained in the last few decades, and catch share programs could further reduce diversification as a result of consolidation. This could increase income variation and thus financial risk. However, catch shares can also offer fishers opportunities to enter or increase participation in catch share fisheries by purchasing or leasing quota. Thus, the net effect on diversification is uncertain. We tested whether diversification and variation in fishing revenues changed after implementation of catch shares for 6,782 vessels in 13 US fisheries that account for 20% of US landings revenue. For each of these fisheries, we tested whether diversification levels, trends, and variation in fishing revenues changed after implementation of catch shares, both for fishers that remained in the catch share fishery and for those that exited but remained active in other fisheries. We found that diversification for both groups was nearly always reduced. However, in most cases, we found no significant change in interannual variation of revenues, and, where changes were significant, variation decreased nearly as often as it increased.

In this paper, we describe the socioeconomic conditions of the small-scale trap fishery in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and examine the determinants affecting the technical performance of the fleet. The socioeconomic data used in the analysis were derived from random, in-person interviews with 50 trap fishers, which accounted for about one-third of the active trap fishers. The study found that the fishery is composed of middle-aged, small-scale commodity producers who use traditional, capital-intensive technologies to target Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus and various reef fishes. Fishers reported that fishing made up 74% of their household income. We also explored the factors influencing the technical efficiency of the fleet by using a stochastic production frontier model. The analysis suggested that trap operations could increase their gross revenues per trip by 36%, on average, by using current input levels and technology more efficiently. The fleet exhibited decreasing returns to s...

Policymakers and advocates often use benefit transfers to estimate the economic value of environmental amenities when primary valuation studies are infeasible. Benefit transfers based on meta-analyses, which synthesize site and methodological characteristics from valuation studies of similar underlying amenities, generally outperform traditional site-to-site transfers. We build on earlier meta-analyses of willingness-to-pay for tropical coral reef recreation by introducing a meta-regression model with threshold effects, with a goal of increasing transfer reliability. We estimate a threshold in coral reef quality and find that increases in live coral cover have a large impact on individuals' WTP for recreation at degraded coral reefs. Relaxing the assumption of users' constant valuation across the distribution of this characteristic improves the performance of coral reef benefit transfers in some instances: tests of convergent validity reveal that including the threshold effect reduces the mean transfer error and the interquartile range of transfer errors in 5 out of 8 tests.

By ending the “race to fish” catch share programs may be expected to lead to improved productivity at the fishery level by retiring redundant capital and by allowing fishing firms to become more technically efficient in their harvesting activities by, among other things, changing the composition of inputs and outputs. Yet, there have been relatively few empirical studies of productivity changes in catch share fisheries and no comprehensive treatment of a cross-section of programs using a common measure of productivity change. In this study estimates of multi-factor productivity change for 20 catch share fisheries in the U.S. using a Lowe index are provided. With few exceptions, productivity increased relative to baseline conditions during the first three years of catch share program implementation. For five of six of the most established catch share programs, these initial productivity gains have been maintained or have continued to improve.

This study investigates changes in the total factor productivity (TFP) and identifies the main sources of TFP growth following the adoption of an individual fishing quota (IFQ) program in the Gulf of Mexico red snapper commercial fishery. Utilizing an unbalanced panel of 722 vertical line vessels Malmquist indices were derived from an output-oriented stochastic distance frontier. The analysis shows that the IFQ program had a positive impact on the productivity of the fleet and that most of the productivity gains were due to improvements in technical efficiency. The study also finds that changes in technical efficiency were time variant suggesting that the exit of the less efficient vessels and easing of command and control regulations such as trip limits and short fishing seasons were responsible for most of these gains. Changes in the exploitable biomass of red snapper were found to have a moderate impact on productivity growth whereas the impact of technological progress was minimal.

A growing number of US fisheries are managed with catch share programs, which allocate exclusive shares of the total allowable catch from a fish stock to individuals, cooperatives, communities, or other entities. All of these catch share programs allow transferability of catch privileges in some form. Information on these transfers, particularly prices, could be valuable to fishery managers and to fishery participants to support management and business decisions and to increase efficiency of the catch share market itself. This article documents the availability and quality of data on transfers of catch privileges in fourteen US catch share programs. These catch share programs include several individual fishing quota (IFQ) programs and a number of programs that allocate catch privileges to self-organized cooperatives. Price information on catch share transfers is found to be limited or unavailable in most US catch share programs. Recommendations are made on how to improve the design of catch share programs and associated data collection systems to facilitate effective catch share markets, collection of catch share market data, and better use of information from catch share markets.

Overcapacity (OC) and excess capacity (EC) are serious obstacles affecting the sound management of commercial fisheries around the world. The use of individual fishing quotas (IFQs) has been proposed as a promising management tool to cope with these challenges. However, the empirical evidence on the efficacy of this instrument is scarce. Drawing on a stochastic distance frontier analysis, we investigate the impact of the US Gulf of Mexico red snapper IFQ program on fishing capacity, capacity utilisation (CU) and OC. The paper also offers an alternative approach to compute speciesspecific capacity measurements for multispecies fisheries. Our findings show that following the introduction of the IFQ program, fishing capacity decreased, primarily due to the exit of a large number of fishing vessels. CU increased marginally indicating modest decreases in EC. Conversely, we find that OC remains high. Our estimates suggest that about one-fifth of the actual fleet could harvest the entire quota.

When making decisions, policymakers often rely on benefit transfer estimates of environmental amenities when primary valuation studies are infeasible. However, various forms of uncertainty appear in the application of meta-analysis. We discuss several visual devices which applied analysts can deploy to clearly present select types of uncertainty into their work. Several examples from well-known metadatasets are presented. The empirical results suggest that these graphical devices allow greater depth of insight that what commonly appears in meta-regression analysis.

Despite the growing use of marine protected areas and seasonal closures to promote the sustainable use of marine ecosystems, few studies have examined the socio-economic performance of these management strategies. This study details the viewpoints of small-scale fishermen regarding the biological and socio-economic performance of the expansion of the Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM) and the red hind seasonal closure off St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The analysis, which drew on 95 in-person closed-ended surveys and 14 semi-structured interviews, showed that fishermen believed that the expansion enhanced fish production within the BIRNM, but they were irresolute about its ability to protect spawning aggregations, replenish fish abundance outside its boundaries and protect fish sensitive sites. Fishermen also reported that the expansion curtailed access to productive lobster and conch grounds and a popular fish-aggregating device which marginalized their livelihoods. The reported conservation benefits of the red hind seasonal closure were more tenuous but broadly mirrored those voiced for the BIRNM. In addition, fishermen stated that the mounting number of closures and gear restrictions has brought about severe economic hardships and has made them more reliant on the southern grounds, which are exposed to industrial and waste treatment effluent.

In this paper, we investigate the bioeconomicimpacts of selected rebuilding strategies in amultispecies fishery. Using a stylizedbioeconomic model, we identify the conditionsunder which modifying the species selectivityproperties of the gear would contribute to therebuilding of over-exploited stocks. We examinethe cases where the stocks are biologicallyindependent and interdependent. Our analysissuggests that the success of the rebuildingprocess not only depends on the nature of thegear modifications but also on the biologicaland economic characteristics of the fishery.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most ecologically and economically valuable marine ecosystems in the world and is affected by a variety of natural and anthropogenic phenomena including climate, hurricanes, coastal development, agricultural runoff, oil spills, and fishing. These complex and interacting stressors, together with the highly dynamic nature of this ecosystem, present challenges for the effective management of its resources. We analyze a compilation of over 100 indicators representing physical, biological, and economic aspects of the Gulf of Mexico and find that an ecosystem-wide reorganization occurred in the mid-1990s. Further analysis of fishery landings composition data indicates a major shift in the late 1970s coincident with the advent of US national fisheries management policy, as well as significant shifts in the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s. These latter shifts are aligned temporally with changes in a major climate mode in the Atlantic Ocean: the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). We provide an explanation for how the AMO may drive physical changes in the Gulf of Mexico, thus altering higher-level ecosystem dynamics. The hypotheses presented here should provide focus for further targeted studies, particularly in regard to whether and how management should adjust to different climate regimes or states of nature. Our study highlights the challenges in understanding the effects of climatic drivers against a background of multiple anthropogenic pressures, particularly in a system where these forces interact in complex and nonlinear ways.

This study examines the impact of individual fishing quotas (IFQs) on the technical efficiency (TE) and composition of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper commercial fishing fleet. Employing a parametric stochastic distance frontier framework we find that IFQs improved the TE of the vertical line and bottom longline fleets. Our results suggest that the observed TE gains were mainly driven by the retirement of less efficient vessels and, to a lesser extent, by efficiency gains of the remaining vessels. We also document changes in output and input distance elasticities and in returns to scale following the introduction of IFQs. The paper also investigates the impact of regulations and weather on productivity and the effect of crowding on TE. Policy implications stemming from these results are also discussed.

The Gulf of Mexico red snapper individual fishing quota program was implemented in 2007 to reduce overcapacity and eliminate derby fishing conditions in the commercial fishery. The five-year review of the program reveals that the number of vessels and fishing trips declined by 17% and 29%, respectively. The review also found the fishery was open year round for the first time in 20 years. Between 2007 and 2011, inflation-adjusted dockside, allocation (leased quota), and quota share prices rose by 7%, 37%, and 145%, respectively, suggesting the profitability of the fleet improved. Gini and Herfindahl-Hirschman indices indicate the distribution of shares is highly unequal, but shareholders do not have market power. The absence of quota overages and lower aggregate discard levels suggest resource stewardship improved. However, discards in the eastern Gulf remain high due to stock range expansion and insufficient allocation. This article also describes lessons learned from the five-year review.