Recently, there has been an increasing interest among researchers on efficiency in fisheries. They have not just been focused on the analysis of the efficiency itself but also for other purposes as measures of capacity utilisation. However, often, efficiency analyses do not offer clear results regarding the sources of the...
Fisheries management is characterised by multiple objectives. However, seldomly do bioeconomic models incorporate more than one or possibly two key objectives, typically profit and employment, into an analysis. There are both practical and technical reasons for this. This study considers the incorporation of eight key objectives into a bioeconomic analysis...
Technical efficiency (TE) measures the relationship between a vessel’s inputs to the fishing process and its outputs, with full efficiency being achieved when outputs are maximised from a given set of inputs. Inputs can be physical (e.g. the vessel, gear, engine, onboard equipment, etc.), flexible (time spent fishing, size of...
Differences in technical efficiency of fishing vessels are often attributed to skipper skill and differences in technology. While the later can be defined in terms of the technology employed, the former is more difficult to quantify. In this paper, the contribution of technology and skipper characteristics (e.g. level of education,...
In the UK, individual quotas are imposed on the demersal whitefish trawl fleet. Many of the key whitefish stocks are at historically low levels, and there is pressure on the industry to adjust to remove the current excess capacity. Adjustment in the fishery is likely to favour vessels that are...
Spatial bio-economic models are becoming increasingly important in the attempt to offer ever more dependable advice to fisheries managers. The main reason for this is the escalating interest in marine protected areas and more precisely fishing exclusion zones. As such the key issue of fishing effort dynamics needs to be...
Closed areas are often used as either temporary or permanent measures to reduce fishing pressure on stocks. A major concern, however, is what happens to the effort that was previously employed in these areas. When modelling the potential impacts of the closed areas, it is necessary to model changes in...
Days at sea restrictions were introduced in 2003 as part of the cod recovery strategy in the North Sea. The impact on the profitability of the fleet of the effort controls, however, is not immediately discernable, as the fishery was also subject to changes in costs, prices and stock conditions....
The world’s output of farmed fish has grown steadily over the past two decades or so. Most
notably in the UK, since the mid 1980’s, a rapid increase in farmed salmon production has taken
place. Given that many of the world’s oceans are overfished, many see aquaculture as a method...
The International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity (IPOA-Capacity) was introduced in 1999 in response to growing concerns about excessive levels of fishing capacity and its impact on global fisheries resources. While debate in academic circles has focused on appropriate ways in which to measure capacity, the...
Australia has a policy of achieving maximum economic yield (MEY) in Commonwealth fisheries, with many States also interested in the MEY target. Bioeconomic models are being developed for estimating MEY for several fisheries, supported by economic surveys of the fisheries. While most cost components can be derived directly from the...
With the development of the ecosystem approach to f
isheries (EAF), fisheries management is
increasingly required to deal with multiple, often
conflicting objectives. In this context, the
stochastic co-viability approach has been proposed
as a useful modeling framework as it allows
for the combined representation of complex fisherie
s dynamics,...
Climate change is expected to impact the productivity of wild and farmed fisheries worldwide. These impacts will vary by region and consequently affect differently the supply to markets. Market driven interactions between fisheries from different regions and between different target species means that changes in supply from one region or...
Sustainability and economic efficiency are well established and defined objectives in Australian fisheries management. Many Australian States and Territories include some reference to social considerations in their fisheries legislation, but this is poorly defined and has little direct influence on policy formulation. From the literature, many fisheries social objectives are...
With international efforts to develop ecosystem-based management of ocean uses, there has been a growing call for the development of integrated assessment tools, including the design of models which can be used to identify possible futures and evaluate alternative management strategies. Along with this, there is increasing recognition that such...
Fishers are faced with multiple risks, including unpredictability of future catch rates, prices and costs. While the latter are largely beyond the control of fisheries managers, effective fisheries management should reduce uncertainty about future catches while also enhancing profitability. Different management instruments are likely to have different impacts on the...
The Australian Harvest Strategy Policy requires that maximum economic yield (MEY) be the target in all Commonwealth managed fisheries. For multispecies fisheries, unlike single species fisheries, the optimal yield is not independent of the optimal yield of the companion species (i.e. those species with which it is caught). In fisheries...
Australian Commonwealth fisheries have adopted maximum economic yield as a target reference point. A bioeconomic model has been developed for one key fishery - the Northern Prawn Fishery - and is used in the provision of management advice. The development and application of this model has highlighted some challenges for...
Despite substantial technological developments over the last two decades, incidental catch of charismatic species still occurs in many world fisheries. Short of ceasing fishing activity, some bycatch is inevitable. In some cases, populations of these species are at low levels, and in several instances the species have been listed as...