BANKRUPTCY OF FISHING RESOURCES: THE NORTHERN EUROPEAN ANGLERFISH FISHERY

Since 1983 the Northern European anglerfish fishery, exploited by fleets of seven countries, has been regulated using a policy of Total Allowable Catch (TAC). In this paper, the strategy followed by the European Union (EU) in distributing the established TAC among the seven countries is explored. It is inferred that the EU has utilized a weighted proportional rule, taking the average catches for the period l973–78 as the reference point. On the other hand, given that the fishery situation for the years 1993, 1994, and 1995 can be characterized as a bankruptcy problem, this paper also explores, as possible means of enriching the Common European Fishery policy, alternatives to this rule. This work proposes the application of two additional rules derived from game theory, the nucleolus and the Shapley value, and studies their properties. The analysis suggests that it may be worth considering not only the proportional distribution, but also the alternative rules.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Confronting the implementation of marine ecosystem-based management within the European Common Fisheries Policy Reform

In this work we confront, by reviewing the literature, the definition of ecosystem-based management provided in the proposal for reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) with the specific measures foreseen in it. These are: the sustainability objectives, the maximum sustainable yield target, the discard ban, transferable fishing concessions and regionalization. By analyzing the proposal of reform of the CFP by means of the ecosystem-based management framework, we conclude that there is a lack of social instruments to deal with the social sustainability objective while economic and ecological sustainability can be simultaneously achieved with the specific measures considered in the proposal. We also conclude that individually analysed, the specific measures could further the ecosystem based management implementation, although not all the observed or analysed consequences of the implementation of these measures move in this direction. In that sense we conclude that the success of the ecosystem based management depends much more on the specific implementation as well as on the accompanying incentives (structural funds)

Past and Future Management of A Collapsed Fishery: the Anchovy in the Bay of Biscay

In this paper, we analyze the efficiency of the existing management regime of the Bay of Biscay anchovy fishery, which has been closed since 2005 due to stock collapse. We also study Pareto improving strategies to improve management of the fishery once the moratorium is lifted, expected for spring 2011. The fishing rights are shared between France and Spain. The main different between the fleets is in terms of the harvesting technologies. The existing international agreement establishes the timing of fishing activities and the shares of the stock for each country. The optimality of this agreement is first analytically analyzed using a sequential game framework. Second, the model is calibrated using data from 1987 to 2004, the period between the current agreement was introduced and the fishery was closed down. Our results suggest that the existing international agreement is suboptimal. Several alternative management regimes are suggested and analyzed. The first alternative is to allow for changes and improvements in the technology of the fleets. Second, the creation of a market to rent or sell quota across national borders. Both alternative management regimes are shown to be Pareto improving.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Modeling and Economic Theory, Fisheries Modelin

Mixed-fisheries management plans in Europe: Can we formulate a simple bioeconomic advice on a complex reality?

The recognition of the complex biological and economic interactions occurring in mixed-demersal fisheries have long underpinned the development of fleets- and fisheries-based models and data collection in European fisheries. More recently, mixed-fisheries management plans are being designed and implemented in the frame of the EU Common Fishery Policy. The central element of these plans is the option to depart from the single-stock MSY-based scientific advice for setting Total Allowable Catches, provided that there is scientific evidence of “choke species” effects that can lead to an early closure of an entire fishery. Single-stocks’ Fmsy upper and lower ranges have been defined, that would maintain high yields and low risks while providing some flexibility to cope with inter-annual fluctuations of the various stocks. These complex developments raise multiple questions, but providing simple answers and robust scientific advice to these is not straightforward. In 2018, important milestones are being reached, which see the culmination and the mutualisation of parallel scientific initiatives, developed in different national and pan-european bodies such as ICES and STECF. An operational process is developed, bringing together ecological and bioeconomic models in a flexible framework. Outcomes are summarised in a combined scientific advice accounting for the risks of choke effects, analysing alternative catch options and suggesting TACs that would be meaningful trade-offs between economic and ecological constraints. This presentation will highlight the main features and outcomes of this complex process, reflecting also on the challenges and opportunities of accounting for mixed-fisheries aspects instead of single-stock approach

Fleet dynamics and overcapitalization under rational expectations

When individual stay/exit decisions depend on the opportunity cost of exiting, capital malleability is endogenously determined by the instruments used for stock rehabilitation. In a General Equilibrium framework, we characterize the transitional dynamics caused by stock rehabilitation policies. We show that a management policy based on input controls generates less exit, a less productive fleet, and overcapitalization, as input controls require a higher number of firms to achieve the same biological targets. Using data from the Multiannual Plan for the Western Mediterranean, we show that the use of input controls generates a Spanish fleet around 14 percent higher than the one that would result from a non distortionary instrument

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

Fleet dynamics and capital malleability

When individual stay/exit decisions depend on the opportunity cost of exiting, capital malleability is endogenously determined by the instruments used for stock rehabilitation. In a General Equilibrium framework, we characterize the transitional dynamics caused by stock rehabilitation policies. We show that a management policy based on input controls generates less exit, a less productive fleet, and overcapitalization, as input controls require a higher number of firms to achieve the same biological targets. Using data from the Multiannual Plan for the Western Mediterranean, we show that the use of input controls generates a Spanish fleet around 14 percent higher than the one that would result from a non distortionary instrument

Caps on working hours per vessel: A general equilibrium analysis

General equilibrium analysis shows that regulation based on caps on working hours per vessel affect the entry/exit margin (more low productivity vessels stay in the fishery), wages (a less productive fleet implies lower equilibrium wages) and aggregate employment allocated to the sector. Although the total number of vessels increases, total employment in the fishery is reduced and the aggregate rents generated in the fishery are lower. Moreover, regulatory policies based on input controls also affect capital dynamics across the stock recovery phases. In comparison with a fishery regulated via efficient instruments, we find that those dynamics are characterized by fewer exits of vessels. Finally, using data from the Western Mediterranean Sea, we show that the use of input controls gives rise to a Spanish fleet around 14 percent larger than the one that would result from a non-distortionary instrument

Fleet dynamics and capital malleability

When individual stay/exit decisions depend on the opportunity cost of exiting, capital malleability is endogenously determined by the instruments used for stock rehabilitation. In a General Equilibrium framework, we characterize the transitional dynamics caused by stock rehabilitation policies. We show that a management policy based on input controls generates less exit, a less productive fleet, and overcapitalization, as input controls require a higher number of firms to achieve the same biological targets. Using data from the Multiannual Plan for the Western Mediterranean, we show that the use of input controls generates a Spanish fleet around 14 percent higher than the one that would result from a non distortionary instrument