International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade
Abstract
To reduce fleet capacity in European fisheries is an important objective of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. The success of such programmes depends both on the variation and the level of efficiency within the fishing fleets. If vessels with significantly lower efficiency level than average are decommissioned, the actual reduction in fishing capacity will be less than expected. Further, if the remaining vessels after a decommissioning program are not operating at an efficient level, future improvement in efficiency may even further offset the effects of the decommissioning program. This paper examines the level and determinants of technical efficiency for a sample of Swedish demersal trawlers, which mainly target Norway lobster but also shrimps and demersal fish in 1995. The data on per-trip gross revenues, fishing effort, gear choice, month of fishing and vessel attributes are analyzed using a translog stochastic production frontier, including a model for vessel-specific technical inefficiencies. Output elasticities and returns to scale are also examined. The technical inefficiency effects are found to be highly significant in explaining the levels and variation in vessel revenues. The mean efficiency for the sample vessels is estimated to be 66%. The inefficiency model indicates that efficiency decrease with total annual effort, and the same applies with vessel size in Gross Registered Tonnage. Further, it is found that older vessels are less efficient
