There is currently much national and international interest in measuring commercial fishing capacity. Two quantitative methods that will likely be used for this purpose are data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier (SF) production functions. Although both methods can be used to estimate a production frontier, their underlying assumptions and...
Measurement of capacity in marine fisheries is an important activity. An economic definition of capacity is the output level corresponding to the tangency between the long-run and short-run average cost curves. A technological-engineering definition is the maximum output per unit of time provided variable inputs are unrestricted. Although cost data...
Given high levels of uncertainty associated with fish stocks, predetermined access rights to the fishery may not deliver the most efficient outcome. Real time monitoring of the fishery could allow effort to be expanded or decreased in accordance with a set of performance indicators. The potential for using real time...
This paper proposes a game theoretic modeling framework for the assessment of the trade-off between economic efficiency gains and biodiversity conservation in a fishery. It introduces a biodiversity index, and develops an application of the method couched on Namibian hake fisheries. Results from the illustrative example show that the opportunity...
It is fitting for the theme of IIFET 2000 “Microbehavior and Macroresults” that some of the smallest life forms on planet Earth (caliciviruses measuring 36 nanometers in diameter), which replicate only inside the living cells of their hosts, be examined. From their beginnings in this microscopic ecologic niche where they...
Emergy (spelled with an "m") and its economic equivalent emdollars evaluate the work done by the environment and by the human economy on a common basis. Making choices that maximize emdollar contributions of environment and economy is a useful public policy.. Emergy-emdollar evaluation of salmon pen culture is presented in...
Reducing harvesting capacity in fisheries is of international importance. In 1999, member nations of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) agreed to an International Plan of Action to reduce fishing capacity. Two initial concerns were the acceptance of a workable definition of capacity and the development of methods...
The Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) and Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries Management require restoration of fishery resources and a matching of capacity to desired resource levels. There is, thus, a need to reduce harvesting capacity throughout many of the fisheries of the world. Yet, even the term capacity is...
Using individual firm data from before and after the introduction of ITQs in the multi-species Nova Scotia mobile gear fishery, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to examine issues relating to capacity and capacity utilization. The paper examines how a change in the property rights regime can affect a multi-product...
The FAO International Plan of Action on the management of fishing capacity calls for all member states to provide estimates of the total capacity of their fleets by 2001. In the UK, a “capacity” measurement system is currently in place, based on vessel size and engine power. An assumption is...