This paper compares two methods for collecting data concerning professional fishing fleets economic performance : use of preexisting bookkeeping databases and ad hoc field surveys of fishers. Each method has its pros and cons and, for practical reasons, it may be necessary to make use of both. Such a feature...
In multi-species fisheries managed under ITQs, the existence of joint production may lead to complex catch-quota balancing issues. Previous modelling and experimental research suggest that, in such fisheries, some fishers may benefit from the ability to trade packages of fishing quotas, rather than fulfill their quota needs by simultaneously bidding...
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) have been used in several countries worldwide to regulate access to marine fisheries. While ITQs can improve the economic efficiency of fisheries, in practice their application rarely has the expected effects. In this study we compare the output predicted by an individual based model of quota...
As part of the ecosystem approach to managing fisheries and other uses of marine ecosystems, there has been a growing call for the development of integrated assessment tools to support the provision of both tactical and strategic management advice. Of particular importance in this domain is the development of models...
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...
Indicators of the economic performance of fishing vessels are frequently computed in many countries. Usually, measures of economic performance are based on the return on capital invested. However, several measures of capital value exist, according to the economic information available. In this paper, we use different types of information to...
While the need to solve problems of overcapitalization and excess investment in fisheries is now broadly
admitted, very little information exists on the level of capitalization and the structure of capital invested in
the fishing sector. This paper presents the first results of a research program aiming at assessing the...
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...
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...
The decision to enter or exit a fishery can be expected to depend on the anticipated profitability of operating in
this fishery, as a function of observed vessel performances in previous years. For a vessel exiting a fishery,
there may be several reasons including decommissioning, selling or operating elsewhere. Entry...
Fisher behavior can be divided into choices made in the short term (i.e. tactics) and choices made in the long-mid term (i.e. strategies). Random utility modeling (RUM) is well suited for the empirical analysis of these issues. In this paper, RUM is applied to a number of EU fisheries in...
Recent work in the domain of fisheries ecology has shown that major changes are occurring in fish
communities exploited by commercial fisheries. Selective fishing pressure on more highly valued
components of fish communities, and its indirect effects via trophic interactions, are amongst the key
factors proposed to explain these changes....
The objective of the paper is to briefly present a comparative analysis of trends in the characteristics of
selected European fleets, observed over the last fifteen years, as an introduction to three empirical studies
of the behavioural determinants of these trends. The analysis presented aims at (i) describing changes
observed...
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...