Capacity and Scale Inefficiency: Application of Data Envelopment Analysis in the Case of the French Seaweed Fleet

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models are applied to the main French seaweed fleet to examine capacity output, capacity utilization, and scale inefficiency. Coastal seaweed vessels target only one output—kelp—with the same gear but with different input level combinations. The fishery is seasonal and subject mainly to input regulations, especially a one trip per day regulation implemented in 1987. The consequence was a decline in total observed output and a fall in capacity output and efficient output. Only the largest vessels and a few small vessels harvesting without this regulatory constraint operate at the optimal scale. The question of a change in regulation, especially a shift to an individual quota system, is raised.Data Envelopment Analysis, capacity, capacity utilizations, cale inefficiency, production frontier, seaweed, fleet, Q22, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A BIOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF DECOMMISSIONING PROGRAMS: APPLICATION TO A LIMITED-ENTRY FRENCH SCALLOP FISHERY

The objective of this paper is to assess the benefits and costs of decommissioning policies aimed at reducing fleet capacity through premiums offered by the public authority to fishermen to scrap their vessels. A case study, the limited entry scallop fishery of the Saint Brieuc Bay, France, is used to consider the problem of excess capacity and to model the bioeconomic consequences of disinvestment behavior. Special attention is paid to the assessment of fishermen's willingness to leave the fishery and to the implementation of public policy in terms of budget level and premiums offered to the fishermen. Spreadsheet simulations show that the impact of decommissioning programs is positive in terms of net surplus, even in the case of increasing technical efficiency of the vessels.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Managing fleet capacity effectively under second-hand market redistribution

Full text : http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00102/21288/19569.pdf (Author's final draft, 0.54 Mo)International audienceFishing capacity management policies have been traditionally implemented at national level with national targets for capacity reduction. More recently, capacity management policies have increasingly targeted specific fisheries. French fisheries spatially vary along the French coastline and are associated to specific regions. Capacity management policies however ignore the capital mobility associated with second-hand vessel trade between regions. This is not an issue for national policies but could limit the effectiveness of regional capacity management policies. A gravity model and a random-effect Poisson regression model are used to analyse the determinants and spatial extent of the second-hand market in France. This study is based on panel data from the French Atlantic Ocean between 1992 and 2009. The trade flows between trading partners is found to increase with their sizes and to be spatially concentrated. Despite the low trade flows between regions, a net impact analysis shows that fishing capacity is redistributed by the second-hand market to regions on the Channel and Aquitaine from central regions. National capacity management policies (constructions/destructions) have induced a net decrease in regional fleet capacity with varying magnitude across regions. Unless there is a change of policy instruments or their scale of implementation, the operation of the second-hand market decreases the effectiveness of regional capacity management policies in regions on the Channel and Aquitaine

How constrained? Entry into the French Atlantic fishery through second-hand vessel purchase

International audienceOver the past decades fisheries policies have been mainly aimed at encouraging capacity reduction in over-exploited fisheries. Correspondingly, research has focused on developing incentives to exit fisheries rather than investigating entry behaviour. However, with ageing and also fewer fishery participants, concern regarding sectoral renewal is increasing. The second-hand market is an important entry point for first-time owners because it potentially reduces capital constraints by supplying cheaper vessels than newly built ones. The aim of this study is to test whether new fishers entering the industry face greater capital constraints than fishers already in the industry, taking the second-hand market as our population of interest. We model new entry into the fishing sector using 18 years of French Atlantic fleet data with a logit model. We incorporate trade network variables and family connections indicative of the relationship and connections between market traders potentially reducing capital constraints. As expected, we find that first entry is more likely by younger owners for older and cheaper vessels. This suggests that first-time owners are more capital constrained than fishers already trading on the second-hand market. Capital constraints are reduced by geographical proximity and increased integration into a trading network

CortExTool: a toolbox for processing motor cortical excitability measurements by transcranial magnetic stimulation

Assessing motor cortical excitability (CE) is essential in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in order to ensure both safe and normalised stimulation power across subjects or patients. However, there is still a lack of automatic and easy-to-use tools for analysing the electromyographic (EMG) signal features that are relevant for CE assessment, such as the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) or the duration of cortical silent periods (CSPs). Here, we describe CortExTool, a signal processing toolbox we developed to fulfil these needs. The toolbox, developed in the Matlab programming language, is open-source and freely accessible to the TMS community. CortExTool provides all the standard functionalities required to automatically process EMG signals recorded during a CE experiment, on both individual and group levels. Its use should allow to standardize and to facilitate the processing of CE measurements by TMS

Des voyages de Cook à l’expédition Santo 2006 : un renouveau des explorations naturalistes des îles du Pacifique

Les îles du Pacifique sont célèbres pour le très haut niveau d'endémisme et la grande vulnérabilité de leurs faunes et de leurs flores. Bien que la valeur scientifique et patrimoniale des écosystèmes du Vanuatu ait conduit à classer ce pays comme « point chaud » de la biodiversité, l'archipel souffre d'un déficit de connaissances en comparaison avec d'autres archipels du Pacifique Sud. L'expédition Santo 2006 sur l'île d'Espiritu Santo a eu pour but d'inventorier les faunes et les flores marines, terrestres et dulçaquicoles de cette île, en portant un accent particulier sur les compartiments négligés de la biodiversité. Tous les milieux, depuis les grands fonds marins au large de l'île jusqu'aux récifs, grottes, rivières, forêts et montagnes ont été inventoriés. Des échantillons de tissus biologiques, des enregistrements de sons et des photos numériques des organismes vivants ont complété les prélèvements d'organismes complets. Une attention particulière a été portée aux espèces introduites et invasives, afin d'établir un état de référence de la biodiversité de Santo en ce début du xxie siècle. L'expédition a impliqué sur le terrain plus de cent cinquante scientifiques, bénévoles et étudiants de vingt-cinq pays.The islands of the Pacific are famous for the high levels of endemism of their flora and fauna, and also the high levels of threats on their faunas and floras. Although Vanuatu is ranked as a biodiversity 'hotspot' under many global analyses, the country suffers from a deficit in scientific knowledge on its biota compared to other South Pacific island groups. The goal of the Santo 2006 expedition on the island of Espiritu Santo was to document the marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species of plants and animals living on or around the island, with a focus on the neglected components of biodiversity. All major environments have been sampled, from deep offshore sea bottoms to coral reefs, caves, rivers, forests and mountains; tissue clips, sound records and digital images supplement samples of dried or preserved specimens. In order to establish a baseline inventory of the biodiversity of Santo, special attention was given to introduced and invasive species. Field work involved over 150 scientists, volunteers and students from 25 countries

Biological Invasion Control in a Coastal Fishery: A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc Scallop Fishery (France)

This paper deals with the economic impact of an aquatic invasive alien species on a coastal shellfish fishery. A slipper-limpet (Crepidula fornicata ) was accidentally imported some decades ago, has established and is spreading in the bay of Saint-Brieuc (France). This exotic species is acting as a space competitor for common scallop (Pecten maximus) harvested by fishers, and then is threatening the long term sustainability of the scallop fishery. Facing this situation, biological invasion is addressed by a control program. The paper presents a bioeconomic model analyzing the invasive process, the social cost of invasion for the scallop fishery and the benefits resulting from a control program. Based on provisional data, a numerical simulation of the invasion of the common scallop fishery of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc (France) is proposed as an illustration, and sensitivity tests are presented

A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Impact of Buyback Programs: Application to a Limited Entry Scallop French Fishery

The objective of the paper is to analyse and to simulate fishers dis-investment behaviour especially in the context of the French buyback policy. A case study, the limited entry scallop fishery of the Saint-Brieuc bay is used to consider the problem of excess capacity and to review the impact of the national decommissioning schemes on the scallop fleet. The role of financial incentives technical and economic are studied to explain individual decisions to stay or to leave the fishery. Considering these lessons, the second part of the paper aims at modelling fishers’ behaviour in order to simulate the bio-economic impacts of buyback programs and the role of different incentive schemes. Special attention is paid to the assessment of willingness to accept to leave the fishery. The model is applied to the scallop fishery while highlighting agency problems such as the role of the regulator’s information about fleet and cost structure. The problem of windfall gains problem due to the mis-specification of the buy-back programs is analysed. Spreadsheet simulations lead to cost-benefit analysis of different policy options.Keywords: Fishing capacity adjustment, buy-back programs, premium, willingness to accept, bio-economic model, cost-benefit analysis

A Fish Discarding Model Including Sorting Behaviour

This paper proposes a formal analysis of the discarding issue including the sorting labour costs. Empirical evidences from an application to the Nephrops fishery in the Bay of Biscay show that sorting is an important time consuming activity on board and a factor of discarding. However existing literature does not explicitly take into account the sorting activity and mainly focus on quota and catch constraints. The discarding model described in the paper includes sorting as a factor explaining discards. The costs of sorting landings and the time to sort them are included in the approach. The model is developed for one species studied at a tow scale with the assumption that catches are exogenous. It is shown that taking sorting costs into account, discarding of one species may occur and that time or effort constraints can induce an over incentive to discard

An Analysis of Changing Fishing Units Using Field Surveys: Case Studies from the EU

Three case studies were included in a study on fishing vessels, most of which use trawl gear in demersal fisheries. The case studies include the French Bay of Biscay bottom-trawlers, the English beam trawlers fishing in the English Channel, Celtic Sea and North Sea, and the Basque trawlers fishing in ICES areas VI, VII and VIII. The characteristics surveyed were based on operator, crew and boat information. Information included changes made to equipment on deck for handling and processing catch, engine changes and changes made to onboard electronics. Information on gear used and species targeted was also collected in order to describe various tactics and strategies. Investment decisions, in terms of acquiring a new vessel were mainly based on economic factors such as opportunity costs. Changes to deck equipment are regularly made to increase efficiency and there is a tendency in each fishery to reduce the number of crew, as this reduces costs. The replacement of an engine was linked to the engine breaking down or to reduce the risk of breakdown. The vast majority of vessels surveyed have installed state of the art onboard electronic equipment after it has become available. The rate of uptake averages about 9 years for GPS-PC linked devices (in terms of average time of the majority of the uptake). This new electronic equipment is used to locate productive areas. Modifications made to gear primarily appear to be to increase efficiency and in some cases may be in response to changing fishing opportunities. External factors constrain fishing operations and in order to remain competitive fishermen require changes in technology to achieve greater efficiency. Output-based fisheries management strategies do not necessarily take into account these changes in efficiency leading to situations where effective fishing effort is greater than the reported nominal effort