"Rationalization” or the change to catch share management in fisheries has been shown to lead to the slowing of fishing activity, input and effort consolidation, cost savings, as well as new market and product development. The effects of rationalization on fishermen’s behavior become more complex when one accounts for the...
The Measuring the Effects of Catch Shares Project is a webportal-based effort that continues to compile and analyze data on ecological, economic, social, and administrative changes in groundfish catch share fisheries on the West Coast and in the Northeast. The purpose of the five-year project is to make the best...
As part of an effort to describe the recent history and socioeconomics of a small commercial fishery, we were provided access to a large, multi-faceted data set. In using those data, we faced a number of challenges related to data management, data protection and confidentiality, and needed to develop effective...
Almost one half of the EEZs of the world are subject to so-called foreign fishing arrangements (FFAs), in which foreign fishing states (distant water fishing states in particular) gain access to EEZs under access arrangements with the relevant coastal states. The FFAs may take the form of “fee fishing” arrangements,...
The opening and closing of the shellfish harvest area inevitably influences the market, particularly the exvessel prices that harvesters receive. Without a better understanding of shellfish market and its behaviors, it is impractical to determine the impact of management policies on the market as well as the fishery resources. Using...
Several factors currently threaten blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to poor water quality, degraded habitat, and shifting environmental conditions, derelict gear has recently been recognized as a significant source of mortality for this economically and culturally significant species. From 2008 through 2014, commercial watermen in...
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries are hugely productive with 2008 – 2014 harvests averaging 1.6 million tons and generating $1.95 billion annually. The BSAI also hosts a commercial halibut fishery with 2013 landings of 3,500 tons and revenues of $41.5 million. Downward trends in halibut biomass combined with continued...
Electronic monitoring (EM) systems hold promise for the future collection of fishery-dependent data, either to supplement human at-sea observers or replace them. Several pilot studies have been conducted on EM in the New England groundfish fleet, though there are still on the water operational and shore-side protocols to further test...
Fishing years 2012 -2013 brought declines in socio-economic performance for the Northeast groundfish fishery. Severe reductions in catch limits for key species such as Atlantic cod have constrained fishing behavior and declining groundfish revenues cannot be offset by non-groundfish revenues earned by the fleet. Little is known about the way...
Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) are distributed from Japan to Baja California. Alaska is the world’s principal supplier of sablefish with the majority of commercial landings occurring in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. This demersal, long-lived fish is in one of Alaska’s highest value commercial fisheries. In terms of...