ABSTRACTS
OF THE IXth ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EAFE
Quimper April 28-29-30, 1997
Please note: the abstracts
of the papers presented at the conference are in English and / or in French. The
translation of an abstract is normally under the responsibility of the author(s).
The titles have been translated by the conference secretariat, except when authors
have given both a French and an English version of their abstract.
FIRST
SESSION: fisheries management, regulation of access to the resources and conflicts
of use
Keynote
speech
Title: Alternatives in fisheries management
Author: Parzival Copes, Emeritus Professor of Economics
Institution: Department of Economics and Institute of Fisheries Analysis,
Simon Fraser University (Canada)
Address: Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
-
Abstract:
This paper is concerned with
management systems for fisheries in industrially advanced countries, where
the need for such systems is apparent and where the financial, administrative
and scientific capacity to operate them is evident. The focus of the discussion
will be on an evaluation of two prototype management systems, which appear
now to be the most widely considered alternatives : (1) output-focused individual
transferable quotas (ITQ) regimes, and (2) input- focused limited entry
licensed (LEL) regimes with buy-out of excess capacity. In both cases the
efficiency of these systems will be explored, considering also variations
in the systems along with supplementary management regulations. The systems
will be compared with reference to the achievement of commonly accepted
policy objectives in the areas of conservation, efficiency, and distributional
equity, noting in particular the extent to which they alleviate old externalities
and create new ones. The discussion will use a priori reasoning, illustrated
by examples drawn from recent fisheries experience. The paper also comments
on the potential uses, as well as the difficulties in applying quotas at
community and country levels.
With respects to the ITQ regime,
the paper concludes that, relative to both open access and LEL regimes,
it offers basic advantages in terms of capacity rationalization and individual
vessel harvesting efficiency, as well as possible advantages in terms of
operational safety and product quality. However, the regulatory requirements
of the system and the behaviour it induces in fishery participants tend
to introduce a variety of external diseconomies, including highgrading,
price dumping, quota busting, quota ratcheting, data fouling, and others.
These, together with the inflexibilities of annually or seasonally predetermined
total allowable catches (TACs) and near- irreversibility of the system,
may often have seriously adverse consequences for conservation and resulting
stock productivity.
LEL regimes tend to suffer from
negative externalities associated with the "race for fish" and
"input stuffing", that lead to reduced harvesting efficiency.
However, relative to ITQ regimes, they exhibit fewer behavioural incentives
to discard and / or misreport catches, and thus offer better prospects for
accurate stocks data. They also have enough flexibility to be accommodated
to conservation-sensitive real-time TAC management, with swift action using
time and area closures to adjust stock impacts. Consequently, they tend
to be more compatible with risk-adverse management appropriate to the precautionary
approach. Thus, they offer generally better prospects for long-run stock
productivity.
Variations on ITQ and LEL regimes
may be operated with or without transferable access rights. Transferability
has been associated with distributional (including intergenerational) inequities,
and sometimes also with geographical concentration of rights that threatens
the viability of smaller coastal communities. Transferability, however,
is essential for the achievement of full rationalization benefits that ITQ
regimes are able to provide. In the case of LEL regimes, on the other hand,
non-transferability may be an advantage, not only in respect of distributional
equity, but also because it may assist in the capacity rationalization process
for small-boat fisheries.
The author concludes that choosing
a management regime for a fishery should be done in relation to the specifics
of the fishery concerned and the policy objectives that have been selected.
In general terms, the author considers that the advantages of ITQ regimes
have been overstated and that insufficient foresight has been exercised
in anticipating their hidden faults. The best opportunities for successful
application of ITQ and related regimes will occur in fisheries with relatively
stable and robust stocks, narrow marketing channels, small numbers of participants,
and absence of equity considerations. In the author's view, LEL regimes
are more adaptable to a variety of fisheries circumstances. Their possibilities
have been too readily dismissed, without sufficient effort to correct mistakes
in earlier applications.
As a general approach, it is
suggested that the need now is for management regimes that are custom-made
for particular fisheries and that are circumstance-specific rather than
system- specific.
- Paper number
1.1
Title: Scenario analysis : Exploring the future of fisheries
Authors: Pavel Salz, Erik Buisman
Institution: LEI-DLO (The Netherlands)
Address: Burgmeester Patijnlan 19. PO Box 29703. NL-2502 LS The Hague.
The Netherlands
-
Abstract:
In order to make rational decisions
about policy, research strategies and investments in the present, it is
necessary to have some idea about possible developments and problems in
the future. Although the future is principally unknown, it is not impossible
to explore future possibilities in a systematic way. One technique to accomplish
this is scenario analysis.
The first part of this paper
will give into scenario analysis as a way to generate and evaluate future
policy options and to identify future research needs. After a brief discussion
of the objectives of scenario-analysis and the results that may be expected
from it, the technique of scenario building will be described. Specific
attention will be payed to the role of present uncertainties and trends.
In the second part, a scenario
study on the future of the North Sea fisheries will be presented. In this
study three scenarios were developed with different levels of consumer preferences
for sustainable resource use. One of these scenarios will be elaborated
and analysed. The main ingredients of this scenario are the introduction
of the ITQs on a European scale and a development of consumer preferences
toward sustainably produced food.
Finally conclusions will be drawn
on the possibilities of the technique of scenario analysis for identifying
policy options and research priorities in the field of fisheries.
- Paper number
1.2
Title: The economic case for charging for licenses and quotas
Author: Tom Sanderson
Institution: MAFF (UK)
Address: Room 519. 3-8 Whitehall Place (West). London SW1A 2HH, United
Kingdom
-
Abstract:
Regulating access to sea fisheries,
normally through some sort of restrictive licensing system, is a key step
in avoiding over-exploitation of the resource. Where licenses or quotas
are tradable, they have become valuable assets, their value reflecting the
discounted expected future stream of profits from fishing. under many fisheries
management regimes, these license / quotas are issued free of charge. This
contrasts with many other sectors where for example, charges are made for
pharmaceutical licenses, TV and vehicle licenses, etc. The Paper sets out
the economic case for charging for fishing licenses or quotas ; and briefly
considers some practical problems and lessons from selected fisheries around
the world, before making some concluding remarks.
The Paper reflects the personal
views of the author.
- Paper number
1.3
Title: Does co-management resolve all our fisheries problems?
Author: Pierre Failler Institution: University of Québec
at Rimouski (Canada)
Address: UQAR. Département Economie et Gestion. 300, allée
des Ursulines. Rimouski G5L 3A1. Québec. Canada
-
Abstract:
Co-management of different types
(community based management, local management, subsidiarity, partnership,
etc.) is increasingly under discussion and applied around the world. For
example, the new Federal Canadian fishery policy is based on the partnership
principle.
This Paper will present some
issues concerning co-management by making a synthesis of the three conference
days which were held at the University of Québec at Rimouski and
at the University McGill (Canada) in 1995 and 1996.
- Paper number
1.4
Title: Mediterranean and Atlantic fisheries management compared
Author: Jan Willem de Wilde
Institution: LEI-DLO (The Netherlands)
Address: Burgmeester Patijnlan 19. PO Box 29703. NL-2502 LS The Hague.
The Netherlands
-
Abstract:
In a study commissioned by the
European Commission, a comparison has been made of fisheries management
in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic. The study concentrates on four
major elements of fishery management:
- Stock conservation
- Structural policy
- Technical measures
- Institutions and user participation
The main characteristics of these
fields of management of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean fisheries are
briefly described and subsequently compared. Conclusions are drawn on the
implications for a mediterranean CFP.
- Paper
number 1.5 The abstract is available
in French only
Title: Conflicts of access to the fishery resources in the Normand-Breton
Gulf
Authors: Jean-Luc Prat, Denis Bailly
Institution: CEDEM, University of Western Brittany (France)
Address: UBO - CEDEM. 12, rue de Kergoat. BP 816. 29285 Brest cedex.
France
-
- Paper number
1.6
Title: Midwater trawling within the 12 nautical miles area : a recent
conflict in the south of the Glenan Islands (PhD thesis in progress)
Author: Philippe Le Rhun
Institution: Géolittomer-Brest, UMR 6554 CNRS, University of
Western Brittany (France)
Address: UBO - Géolittomer. BP 817. 29285 Brest Cedex. France
-
Abstract:
Perfected by the Danish about
1955, the development of the pelagic trawl in France began in the late 50'.
As long as it was limited to the English Channel and the North Sea fishing
areas, its slow evolution has not created any particular problem. Yet, its
sudden introduction on the Atlantic coast (late 70') has overturned the
fishing fleet habits, especially those using bottom set gear (nets, pots,
longlines) largely used in Brittany. This sudden introduction has created
violent areas conflicts (especially in Quiberon Bay) for the sharing of
inshore fishing areas. These repeated incidents, in Audierne Bay, around
the Glenan Islands, or Yeu Island, ended in the setting of a juridical regulation
of the use of the pelagic trawl in French waters (12 nautical miles).
In early 1997, the twentieth
birthday of the first law on pelagic trawl has been "celebrated"
in the south of the Glenan Islands by hard conflicts between pelagic trawlers
and fishing fleets using bottom-set gear, after the loss of many of such
gear in areas forbidden to pelagic trawling or G.O.V. (high opening trawl).
In fact, the present law is completely ineffective. The question is : how
did we come to this situation?
The cartographic translation
of the laws regulating pelagic trawling shows the incoherence in the distribution
of areas where this activity is authorized or forbidden, because these areas
were successively created as a solution to the repeated incidents on fishing
areas, without any global reflexion on the management of this gear. Moreover,
the high efficiency of the pelagic trawl and derived gear (hybrid G.O.V,
Naberan trawl) causes a serious biologic problem. What is its fishing effort
and impact on an overexploited coastal biomass ? A clear answer should be
rapidly given to this question, because those gears are more and more contested
among the fishing community, especially now that a good administration of
French waters is requested for the "year 2002". Thus, a geographical
approach is necessary, because the study of actually exploited fishing areas
and of legally authorized areas will allow to determine the danger zones.
Thanks to this study, a new spatial approach may be considered. To allow
a practical application, the newly drawn up maps will be integrated in a
G.I.S (Geographical Information System) and shall be distributed to the
fishermen by Turbo 2000 and MaxSea (softwares used by most of the professionals).
This a new approach in the inshore fishing management.
- Paper number
1.7
Title: Commercial exploitation of artificial reefs : economic opportunities
and management imperatives ; the application of property rights
Authors: David Whitmarsh, Helen Pickering
Institution: CEMARE, University of Portsmouth (UK)
Address: Locksway Road. Portsmouth PO48JF. United Kingdom
-
Abstract:
Relatively little is known about
the economic effects of artificial reefs, and this lack of knowledge imposes
a constraint on the fisheries planning process. In this Paper we develop
a simple bioeconomic model to explore the implications of creating a commercial
reef-based fishery, highlighting the problems that can rise if the reef
remains unregulated. We then go on to discuss the range of management techniques
that can be used to mitigate those problems and to ensure the potential
economic benefits of artificial reefs are appropriated. particular attention
is paid to property rights and the legal basis for their establishment and
enforcement.
- Paper number
1.8
Title: Comanagement and the dynamics of the fisheries : some issues
Author: Claude Rioux
Institution: University of Québec at Rimouski (Canada)
Address: UQAR. Département Economie et Gestion. 300, allée
des Ursulines. Rimouski G5L 3A1. Québec. Canada
-
Abstract:
The main purpose of this Paper
is to try to give a more precise definition of the comanagement of marine
fisheries, using the "classical" theory of fisheries economics
as the starting point. Three other objectives are : to explicit the economic
meaning of comanagement, to identify the possibilities and the limits of
comanagement, and to suggest some new avenues of research that can help
to understand better the dynamics of fishing activity.
Using the existing literature,
the author will suggest a definition of comanagement and the link between
the institutional design and the regulation of the resource. The Paper will
focus on the origin of an institution and the results of the of the decisions
on externalities and free entry.
The first part presents briefly
the problem of the resource management by the market forces alone and the
results of this type of management on the dynamics of fisheries. The second
part will discuss the institutional evolution implied by some forms of comanagement.
The conditions that can explain the emerging and the surviving of comanagement
are examined in the third part. In the fourth part, some implications of
comanagement are evoked. Some perspectives for new research are suggested
in the fifth part.
Since the managing institution
has also its own dynamics that is more or less closely related to fisheries
dynamics, it seems that we need a better understanding of the economic and
social forces that affect the behavior of fishermen, and also more empirical
works on the rationality of the institutions (how are determined the global
level of utilization of a resource and the allocation of the resource between
the users, especially in the case of comanagement).
- Paper number
1.9
Title: On the economics of natural resources : the management of
fishery resources (PhD thesis in progress)
Author: Susana Cabrera Yeto
Institution: University of Malaga (Spain)
Address: Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales. C/el Ejido
s/n. 29071 Malaga. Spain
-
Abstract:
The main objective of the thesis
is to quantify, in a bargaining model, the potential welfare benefits for
vessels and countries that compete for a common pool if they coordinate
their actions in order to obtain an efficient fishing policy. The level
of total captures must guarantee the attainment of an cological equilibrium.
Furthermore, we want to study the effect that the bargaining power of each
country has on the final share of total captures of his national fleet.
To conclude, we want to apply the analytical results obtain to real cases
of different countries with fleets fishing in the same pool.
- Paper number
1.10
Title: Economic evaluation of the demersal Spanish trawl fishery
in the Gulf of Lion
Author: Ramon Franquesa
Institution: GEM, University of Barcelona (Spain)
Address: Gran de Gracia, 229 E.D. 08012 Barcelona. Spain
-
Abstract:
The demersal trawl is the most
important gear in economic terms in the Spanish Mediterranean. Within the
gear diversity which characterizes the area, the demersal trawl is one of
the most conflictive. The management instruments are designed to try to
limit in some cases its expansion, basically through the regulation of fishing
licenses.
In the Paper we examine the accounts
of this fleet, to understand what are the key aspects of the economic performance
of this gear. The main focus of the Paper is to study the possibilities
of economic management versus administrative management. The evaluation
shows that measures such as the changes in the fuel prices, for example,
are more effective than the prohibition to surpass some set limits in horse
power or in GRT.
The Paper finishes with a description
of the economic management instruments which can be used to balance out
the distribution between gears, and between different segments in the trawl
gear, as a complement of the administrative instruments.
- Paper number
1.11
Title: Measuring the economic results of small-scale fisheries :
the case of French inshore fishing in the western part of the English Channel
Authors: Jean Boncoeur*, Denis Bailly*, Pascal Le Floch**
Institution: * CEDEM, University of Western Brittany (France). ** Fisheries
Science Laboratory, ENSAR (France)
Address: *12, rue de Kergoat. BP 816. 29285 Brest cedex. France
-
Abstract:
A reasonable knowledge of the
economic performance of the fishing vessels is a key to a sound management
of the fisheries, since it governs the understanding of their endogenous
dynamics, and the possibility of taking efficient and fair management decisions.
But the measurement process raises
two kinds of problems : a statistical one and a conceptual one. The statistical
problem is due to the frequently poor quality of official data about landings
and prices, and to the questionable reliability of data coming from accounting
centres. The conceptual problem is twofold. First, in some cases, standard
accounting definitions may be unsuited to the economic reality of the fishing
enterprises investigated. Second, the existence of strong externalities
(stemming from various causes, among which discarding) creates a gap between
individual private and social costs, and thus distorts the social significance
of individual private performance.
This Paper presents and discusses
some of the results of an economic sample survey of the French inshore fishing
activities in the western part of the English Channel, realized in 1996
with the financial support of the French Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food, the Brittany Region and IFREMER (Programme AMURE). The management
of these activities is complicated by some patterns, such as their multi-species
and multi-gear character, the high number of landing places and the variety
of the commercial channels which they use (to say nothing of the fact that
different State authorities cohabit in the Normand-Breton gulf).
The Paper focuses on the measuring
of the economic performance realized by different subsets of the fleet under
investigation. After presenting the difficulties of this operation, it explains
the methods which have been built up in order to overcome some of them,
and shows the main results obtained. It also indicates the questions still
unsolved, and the direction which is taken to treat them.
- Paper number
1.12
Title: An application of the fishing economic model "ECOPES"
on the Atlantic hake fishery
Authors: M.Augusto Lopez Martinez, Ana Maria Juarez Davila, Enrique
Pescador Canora
Institution: University of Cadiz (Spain)
Address: UCA - Facultad de ciencias del Mar. PO Box 40. 11510 Puerto
Real (Cadiz). Spain
-
Abstract:
This Paper focuses on the ECOPES
model (for further details, see Lopez Martinez, M. Augusto, "ECOPES
: a fishing economic model", session Modelling, Paper 2, EAFE VIIIth
Conference, Barcelona 1996), proving its ability on predictions of future
tendencies in real fisheries, such as the ICES areas VIIIc and IXa of the
south hake stock of the Atlantic Ocean, in which a convenient database is
available. The use of these data in the model, including catches, prices,
existing biomass and distribution of costs, led to a complete description
of the present and future state of such fishery. Thus, it has been possible
to determine the normal evolution in the fishery involving a situation of
non-existing free equilibrium, as well as taking decisions to reach a regulated
equilibrium, characterized by maximum sustained profit. Finally, fishing
policy suggestions are given to get such equilibrium by the means of catch
regulation.
- Paper number
1.13
Title: Modelling the UK component of the English Channel fisheries
: an application of multi-objective programming
Authors: Sean Pascoe*, Mehrdad Tamiz** Institution: * CEMARE,
University of Portsmouth (UK). **Department of Mathematical Studies, University
of Portsmouth (UK)
Address: *Locksway Road. Portsmouth PO48JF. United Kingdom
-
Abstract:
Fisheries management is often
characterized by multiple objectives. These objectives often include biological
conservation objectives, improved fisheries incomes and maintenance of regional
employment.
A criticism of many fisheries
modelling approaches has been the focus on single objectives. Economists
tend to focus on improving the economic performances of the fishery, and
hence develop models with this objective in mind. Conversely, biologists
are often concerned with achieving an acceptable stock level, and develop
models with this objective in mind.
The development of multi-objective
modelling algorithms enable several objectives to be considered simultaneously.
In this Paper, a brief review of the multi-objective modelling theory is
presented along with a review of previous attempts at developing multi-objective
models in fisheries. A multi-objective model of the UK component of the
English Channel is also developed, and compared with a single objective
version of the model.
- Paper number
1.14
Title: Bioeconomic management of red swamp crawfish (Procambarus
Clarkii) in the presence of environmental externalities
Authors: Rui Junqueira-Lopes*, Philippe Michel**, Gilles Rotillon***
Institution: *University of Evora (Portugal). **University of Paris
I (France). ***University of Paris X (France)
Address: *Departamento de Economia. Largo dos Colegiais, no2.
7000 Evora. Portugal
-
Abstract:
Red swamp crayfish (Procambarus
Clarkii) is a valuable renewable resource which creates significant negative
externalities in its environment. Crayfish can cause severe crop damage
by burrowing in fields and irrigation systems to spread. These crayfish
are resistant to normal dosages of pesticides which are harmful to fish
and birds, can endure months of dryness, and live in a low oxygen environment.
This Paper presents a simple bioeconomic model for optimal use of the red
swamp crayfish accounting for its value in consumption, adapting Plourde's
(1970) model to include the negative externalities.
- Paper number
1.15
Title: Individual quotas as a management tool and systemic modelling
: an application to the French albacore fishery (PhD Thesis in progress)
Author: Olivier Guyader
Institution: OIKOS and University of Rennes I, guest-researcher at
CEDEM (France)
Address: UBO - CEDEM. 12 rue de Kergoat. BP 816. 29285 Brest cedex.
France
-
Abstract:
This Paper deals with the implementation
of individual (transferable) quotas in fishing activities. It develops a
part of a larger work (PhD thesis) which tries to evaluate the relative
advantage of rights based management tools.
We rapidly review the basic insights
of quotas allocations from the point of view of efficiency and equity, and
evaluate the potential difficulties of their application to the French albacore
fishery. Then, we take care of this to build a simple model of fishermen
behaviour within I.Q and I.T.Q systems. We consider the problems of imperfect
enforcement and transaction costs, stocks effects and fleet adjustments.
The model gives also the opportunity to modify quotas allocations and to
put limits on rights concentration. It is converted into a systemic software
language in order to simulate management options. Finally, the outputs of
simulations are presented and the question of choice between quota and input
regulation is discussed.
- Paper number
1.16
Title: Fisher behaviour : exploring the validity of the profit
maximizing assumption
Authors: Catherine Robinson, Sean Pascoe
Institution: CEMARE, University of Portsmouth (UK)
Address: Locksway Road. Portsmouth PO48JF. United Kingdom
-
Abstract:
The assumption of profit maximizing
behaviour underpins most bioeconomic models of fisheries. However, the results
from a number of recent surveys of fishers attitudes have suggest that fishers
are not generally profit maximizers. Researchers undertaking these surveys
asked fishers directly for their key motivation. Few fishers admit to trying
to maximizing profits explicitly. This unwillingness to admit profit maximizing
behaviour has been interpreted as evidence that fishers do not operate in
a profit maximizing manner.
In this Paper, evidence is presented
that indicates fishers do operate in a profit maximising manner. A survey
of fishers attitude was derived that did not ask for fisher motivation directly,
but asked what would motivate them to change their behaviour. A number of
fishers along the south coast of England were interviewed. The results of
this survey are compared with the results of other surveys of UK and Irish
fishers.
- Paper 1.17
Title: A method of indicating the comparative dispersion of national
fleet revenue in mixed fisheries
Authors: Philip Bertram*, Philip Rodgers**
Institution: * Napier University (UK). ** SFIA, Edinburgh (UK)
Address: Sea Fish Industry Authority. 18, Logie Mill, Logie Green Road,
Edinburgh EH7 4HG UK
-
Abstract:
The views expressed in this Paper
are those of the authors and not necessarily those of their institutions.
The Sea Fish Industry Authority does not adopt a policy on fisheries management
matters.
The Lorenz Curve and the related
statistic, the Gini Coefficient are used to provide a measure of the dispersion
of the national fleet revenue. Despite some weaknesses the Lorenz Curve
and Gini Coefficient provide a basic conceptual framework for indicating
the dispersion of national fleet revenue among species. For comparative
purposes, the more difficult question is Addressed of how to provide a common
basis for calculating a statistic analogous to the Gini Coefficient.
The Paper analyses recent data
from Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom in terms
of value of landings per species in the period of a year in the country
of origin. Data from species by value from each country is analysed and
presented graphically. A method of adjusting the Gini Coefficient to allow
for reliance on differing numbers of species is considered.
Keywords : Lorenz, Gini, Fishery
Economics.
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