EFFECTS OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES ACT ON CAPACITY, UTILIZATION AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY

The American Fisheries Act (AFA) of 1998 significantly altered the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands pollock fishery by allowing the formation of harvesting and processing cooperatives and defining exclusive fishing rights. This paper uses data envelopment analysis and stochastic production frontier models to examine effects of the AFA on the fishing capacity, technical harvesting efficiency (TE), and capacity utilization (CU) of pollock catcher-processors. Results from multi-input, multi-output models indicate that fishing capacity fell by more than 30% and that harvesting TE and CU measures increased relative to past years. This work provides examples of how existing data, which is currently devoid of operator costs and provides only general indicators of earnings, may be used to analyze changes in elements of fleet and vessel performance in response to management actions.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

MEASURING FISHING CAPACITY: AN APPLICATION TO IN NORTH PACIFIC GROUNDFISH FISHERIES

This research provides estimates of fishing capacity for the pollock fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands using DEA and stochastic frontier techniques. Capacity estimates are computed and compared under various model specifications, as well as before and after passage of the American Fisheries Act, which allowed for cooperatives in the pollock fishery.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Measuring Productivity Change and Its Components for Fisheries: The Case of the Alaskan Pollock Fishery, 1994-2003

Traditional productivity measures have been much less prevalent than other measures of economic and biological performance in fisheries economics. It has been increasingly recognized, however, that modeling and measuring fisheries' production relationships is central to understanding and ultimately correcting the repercussions of externalities and poorly designed regulations. We use a transformation function production model to estimate productivity and its components for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands pollock fishery. We recognize the roles of externalities from pollock harvesting by incorporating data on environmental conditions, bycatch, and biomass stock, and capture regulatory impacts through fishing strategy indicators and fixed effects. We find that the productive contributions and interactions of environmental conditions, bycatch, and fishing strategies are statistically significant, and that regulatory changes have had both direct and indirect impacts on catch patterns.Fisheries Productivity, Regulatory Impacts, Bycatch, Environmental Factors, Primal Production Model, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Estimating Heterogeneous Primal Capacity and Capacity Utilization Measures in a Multi-Species Fishery

We use a stochastic production frontier model to investigate the presence of heterogeneous production and its impact on fleet capacity and capacity utilization in a multi-species fishery. Furthermore, we propose a new fleet capacity estimate that incorporates complete information on the stochastic differences between each vessel-specific technical efficiency distribution. Results indicate that ignoring heterogeneity in production technologies within a multi-species fishery, as well as the complete distribution of a vessel's technical efficiency score, may yield erroneous fleet-wide production profiles and estimates of capacity.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

EFFECTIVE COSTS AND CHEMICAL USE IN U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION: BENEFITS AND COSTS OF USING THE ENVIRONMENT AS A "FREE" INPUT

This study uses a cost-function-based model of production processes in U.S. agriculture to represent producers' input and output decisions, and the implied costs of reductions in risk associated with leaching and runoff from agricultural chemical use. The model facilitates evaluation of the statistical significance of measured shadow values for "bad" outputs, and their input- and output-specific components, with a focus on the impacts on pesticide demand and its quality and quantity aspects. The shadow values of risk reduction are statistically significant, and imply increased demand for effective pesticides over time that stem largely from improvements in quality due to embodied technology, and that vary substantively by region.Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Estimating Heterogeneous Capacity and Capacity Utilization in a Multi-Species Fishery

We use a stochastic production frontier model to investigate the presence of heterogeneous production and its impact on fleet capacity and capacity utilization in a multi-species fishery. Furthermore, we propose a new fleet capacity estimate that incorporates complete information on the stochastic differences between each vessel-specific technical efficiency distribution. Results indicate that ignoring heterogeneity in production technologies within a multi-species fishery, as well as the complete distribution of a vessel’s technical efficiency score, may yield erroneous fleet-wide production profiles and estimates of capacity. Furthermore, our new estimate of capacity enables out-of-sample production predictions predicated on either homogeneity or heterogeneity modeling which may be utilized to facilitate policy

MULTISPECIES REVENUE FUNCTION ESTIMATION FOR NORTH PACIFIC GROUNDFISH FISHERIES

Multiproduct, multispecies revenue functions are estimated for the midwater and bottom-trawl pollock fisheries off Alaska. There are strong year and seasonal effects on coefficient estimates, and the technology is joint in outputs for each major operation type. The model is a step toward prediction of fishery regulatory effects.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Measuring Fishing Capacity and Utilization with Commonly Available Data: An Application to Alaska Fisheries

Due to a lack of data on vessel costs, earnings, and input use, many of the capacity assessment models developed in the economics literature cannot be applied in U.S. fisheries. This incongruity between available data and model requirements underscores the need for developing applicable methodologies. This paper presents a means of assessing fishing capacity and utilization (for both vessels and fish stocks) with commonly available data, while avoiding some of the shortcomings associated with competing “frontier” approaches (such as data envelopment analy

The Measurement of Capacity, Utilization, and Economic Performance: An Application to North Pacific Groundfish Fisheries

The North Pacific groundfish fisheries (NPGF) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) are among the largest and most valuable fisheries in the world. However, relatively little is known about the economic performance of the industry and concerns loom over the presence of excess fishing capacity. Aside from dissipating rents and shortening fishing seasons, excess capacity can pressure for managers to inadvertently keep the total allowable catch above sustainable levels in order to preserve employment.In an attempt to address these problems Congress passed the American Fisheries Act (AFA) in 1998, which, among other things, represented an attempt to "rationalize" the pollock fishery (the most valuable of the NPGF fisheries). The AFA included regulations that instituted fishing rights, restricted access to certain parties, and allowed the formation of cooperatives that enabled eligible members to trade quota.Initial reports indicate that there has been a decrease in fishing effort and an increase in season length for the BSAI pollock fishery since passage of the AFA. However, given that the quantity of pollock caught has not diminished and is still being taken in a few months time, it is unclear whether observed capacity reductions are sufficient to ease existing concerns.In order to further our understanding of the issues discussed above, this dissertation provides estimates of harvesting capacity and utilization in the catcher-processor sector of the BSAI pollock fishery, and analyzes many of the changes brought about by the AFA. Two proposed methods for measuring fishing capacity--stochastic production frontier (SPF) and data envelopment analysis (DEA)--are employed in multi-input, multi-output applications to the catcher-processor fleet. The resulting capacity estimates from the models are then compared and used to characterize the degree of excess capacity in this sector of the pollock fishery, and illustrate the substantial differences in capacity estimates that may arise when the stochastic aspects inherent in harvesting technologies are ignored. And, because DEA and SPF models allow one to analyze technical efficiency in production, the frameworks are also used to compare pre- and post-AFA technical efficiency among individual vessels and the pollock catcher-processor fleet as a whole

MEASURING FISHING CAPACITY: AN APPLICATION TO IN NORTH PACIFIC GROUNDFISH FISHERIES

This research provides estimates of fishing capacity for the pollock fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands using DEA and stochastic frontier techniques. Capacity estimates are computed and compared under various model specifications, as well as before and after passage of the American Fisheries Act, which allowed for cooperatives in the pollock fishery