Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Australian National University, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rhodes University, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 23, 2006). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-257).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rhodes University, 2001. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 23, 2006). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-110).

The commercial fisheries of British Columbia, operating along the province's 750-mile winding coastline and out into the North Pacific, are extremely diverse. Each of the many different species of fish requires its own technique of catching and method of processing and marketing. Processors are concentrated into a few firms, handling all products. Fishermen are a specialized, but nonetheless competing, labour force, divided by a variety of gears used and wage payments received, and further split historically into various language and racial groups, often isolated in close-knit communities. Characteristic of the industry is its uncertainty of operation and income. Lack of control of the supply of fish has been further accentuated by variations in conservation measures designed to perpetuate the fisheries. These rigid government controls have, in part, determined the nature of the fierce competition and rapid technological changes which have occurred when fishermen and companies have attempted to increase their share of the fish. Another uncertainty has been fluctuating market demand, especially in those export markets which take the bulk of the catch. Focus of the tensions produced has been disputes between fishermen and companies over the price of raw fish. Fish prices were the cause of the first strikes and attempts at unionism in the years 1893 to 1914. In this period, while the companies organized a tight employers' organization, antagonism between fishermen, especially whites and Indians on the one hand, and Japanese on the other hand, often defeated their aims. Unions that did survive were restricted to a single area, type of gear or language group. In the second phase of unionism, much stress was laid on legislative action to restrict fishing licences, especially to Japanese fishermen. Rapid changes in technology have dominated the last two decades. Mergers and consolidations have concentrated processing into a few multiphase plants. The fishing fleet has become highly mobile, adaptable to many fisheries and increasingly owned by individual fishermen, though often with company financing. Local isolation has broken down, competition between groups has increased, and fishermen face an increasing need for co-operation to cut insecurity and risk. Out of the struggles against depression conditions in the 1930's, scattered fishermen's unions were welded into a coast-wide organization. Joined with more recently stabilized unions of shoreworkers, it forms one industry-wide union, enrolling the bulk of the labour force. The other attempted solution to these problems has been producers1 co-operatives which have had a limited success in enlisting independent fishermen from some fisheries and areas. The industry today is highly organized with collective agreements all processing operations and practically all fisheries. One major union negotiates with a single employers association, with independent vessel owners and co-operatives playing a subsidiary role. Basic insecurities which produced past industrial disputes have not been eliminated, and the prospect is for continued conflict, coupled with displacement of fishermen and shoreworkers from the industry as productivity and capital costs rise. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

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This study develops an improved method for understanding economic production relationships in small scale fisheries. This method postulates that gross revenue is a function of physical input quantities, and is based upon the transcendental logarithmic function to derive factor share equations for each of the five inputs in the model. The translog form was selected because of its flexibility, non-constant elasticity of substitution, and input interaction to give a more realistic representation of production relationships in small scale fisheries. The model was tested using cross-sectional data from a cost and earning survey on the Florida reef fishery. The joint generalized least squares procedure for seemingly uncorrelated equations was used for the parameters estimation. A total of 68 observations were used. The estimation results were not very encouraging because of the poor response of the model. This may in part be attributable to inconsistencies shown by the data. The translog gross revenue function, was also estimated. The result showed good response. However, the model was characterized by multicollinearity and sensitivity of parameters to variable substitution. Similar results and characteristics were obtained when the Cobb- Douglas function was estimated. These results were also influenced by the size and the characteristics of the data set. The method presented here for estimating economic production relationships in small scale fisheries is attractive because (1) factor share and output elasticities are a function of the inputs and (2) it allows varying the inputs in bundles instead of individually, which is more realistic for policy analysis. Further testing of this model is encouraged using a larger and more accurate data set. / Graduation date: 1987

Growing demand for limited quantities of fish has led to systematic planning for the conservation and management of U.S. fishery resources. There is a need for better understanding of the complex biological and social environment on which regulation for conservation, social, and economic purposes is imposed. The behavior of commercial fishermen, who in many instances use multi-purpose vessels to exploit multi-species fisheries, is difficult to assess and predict. The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze selected aspects of Oregon commercial fishing fleets. The focus of this study is on the short-run decision-making behavior of Oregon trawl fishermen for the period 1974-1979. A general review of the activities of Oregon's multi-purpose fishing fleets is followed by an attempt to measure the responses of trawl vessel operators to varying economic and biological conditions. Several models of the short-run allocation of fishing time by a multi-purpose vessel operator are developed. The limited amount of economic literature on multi-purpose fleet behavior is briefly reviewed. An important feature not explicitly recognized in the theoretical models is that fishermen operate in an uncertain environment. Fishermen are hypothesized to react to expectations about economic returns in the fisheries which they can exploit. Simple Nerlovian agricultural supply response models were adapted for statistical analysis of the allocation of fishing time. Fishermen's short-run behavior was hypothesized to depend on expectations of current rather than normal returns to fishing time. Four versions of models which explain allocation of fishing time for a stable subfleet of trawl vessels were estimated using ordinary least squares regression. Monthly days of fishing by fishery were significantly explained by variables representing expected gross revenues per unit of effort, weather conditions and seasonal regulations. The analysis also indicates that fishermen are able to respond rapidly to perceived variations in gross returns. In the shrimp and crab fisheries, elasticities of days fished with respect to expected gross returns were estimated to be in the range of 0.45 to 0.40. Regulatory implications are that: (1) fisheries managers need to monitor the effects of regulation with little delay and (2) the use of taxes and subsidies to shift significant amounts of effort among fisheries is not likely to be successful. Additional research effort could profitably be spent to refine measurement of the explanatory variables, or to measure the response of individual fishermen to suitable explanatory variables. / Graduation date: 1982

The objective of this study was to identify and investigate the underlying basis for the increasing volume of U.S. imports of fishery products from 1958-1969. It was recognized that many institutional constraints contributed to the high marginal cost of domestic harvesting which placed the United States at a comparative disadvantage in fish production. However, the fact that both shrimp and tuna were in great demand by American consumers at the same time that these fishery resources were near their maximum sustainable yield contributed to an increased volume of shrimp and tuna imports. It was hypothesized that increasing domestic demand, together with an inelastic domestic supply schedule, contributed to increased prices and encouraged U.S. importation of fishery products. It was also hypothesized that these phenomena resulted in U.S. direct investment abroad for the exploitation of foreign fishery resources. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory of trade was utilized to examine the relationship of this hypothesis to other empirical studies of trade. A monthly time series regression analysis of the domestic Gulf and South Atlantic shrimp industry from 1958 through 1969 established that both the domestic supply schedule and the domestic demand schedule for these shrimp were price inelastic. Domestic demand was income elastic. An attempt to specify and estimate an import demand function was unsuccessful due to the lack of data necessary to estimate the simultaneous effects of import supply. However, after hypothesizing several supply relationships in a simultaneous model, it became apparent that increasing world and U.S. per capita incomes would put strong upward pressure on U.S. wholesale prices, ceteris paribus. These findings are not totally applicable to the U.S. groundfish industry; however, they are appropriate with reference to the tuna industry. Policy implications of these results were examined from a consumer, fisherman, national, and world perspective. Many policies which would benefit one group would not necessarily benefit all groups. Because free trade results in income redistribution between nations and individuals, the answer to the question of whether or not increasing imports are a cause for concern is contingent upon the identification of policy objectives. / Graduation date: 1974

The effects of ambient temperature storage on the chemical and nutritional characteristics of phosphoric and sorbic acid-stabilized fish autolysates were determined. Variations in sample composition due to autolysis, deboning, and acidification were also evaluated. Autolysates of English sole (Parophrys vetulus), true cod (Gadus macrocephalus), Dover sole (Microstomus pacificus), and orange rockfish (Sebastodes pinniger) carcass wastes, whole Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) and dogfish shark (Squalis acanthias), and a hake/tuna viscera (70/30 wt/wt) mixture were utilized in the investigation. Samples were acidified to ca. pH 3.25 with phosphoric acid (85% w/v) and contained potassium sorbate at the 0.2% (wt/wt) level. Screen separation of bone reduced the ash levels of samples, with the exception of dogfish shark. Loss of bone minerals, specifically calcium and phosphorus, was responsible. Phosphoric acid addition elevated ash and phosphorus contents to higher levels than for raw materials. Acid-stabilized autolysates were stable to microbial outgrowth throughout 8 months of ambient temperature storage. Slight increases in pH levels were generally observed. Sorbate levels decreased at an apparently exponential rate with respect to time (r=-.9146, P [greater than or equal to] .005). Hydrolytic rancidity did not proceed during storage. Stability towards microbial outgrowth, inactivation of endogenous lipases during pasteurization, and maintenance of acidic environmental conditions enhanced fat stability. Oxidative rancidity, as measured by 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) numbers, progressed during storage. Carcass wastes showed higher rates and overall levels of oxidation. Initial free fatty acid levels correlated in a linear manner with 0 and 4 month TBA numbers (r=.9548, P [greater than or equal to] .005; r=.9187, P [greater than or equal to] .005, respectively). The regression of TBA numbers at 4 months on zero time values increased in a linear manner (r=.9346, P [greater than or equal to] .005). Proteolysis during storage, as monitored by free amino groups, was not detected. Inactivation of native proteases during processing and the microbial stability of samples were responsible. Levels of available e-amino lysine and tryptophan were stable throughout storage. The protein quality of acidified hake, dogfish shark, orange rockfish, and English sole autolysates, stored for 0, 4, and 8 months, was evaluated using protein efficiency ratio (PER) determinations. Protein quality was not affected by storage in samples of acidified hake, English sole, and orange rockfish (P=.05). Ratios for all samples of hake and the 0 and 8 month samples of dogfish shark did not vary significantly (P=.05) from the casein control. English sole and orange rockfish samples yielded PER values that were inferior to casein and round fish samples (P=.05). The regression of feed consumption and PER values on TBA numbers decreased in a linear manner (r=-.7999, P [greater than or equal to] .005; r=-.8424, P [greater than or equal to] .005, respectively). Higher contents of nutritionally inferior visceral proteins and increased rates of oxidative rancidity in the carcass waste samples probably were responsible for their reduced protein qualities. / Graduation date: 1978