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

Fishing firms in Oregon operate in a complex and dynamic physical, biological and institutional environment. Within this environment, managers of these firms will attempt to maximize some objective function which may include profit. This maximization is dependent upon the level of output, or the levels of inputs. Given a relationship between output and inputs, production economics theory tells us how to combine inputs so that an optimum level of output is achieved. This study applies production economics theory to commercial fishing firms in Oregon. The primary objective of this research was to determine whether a relationship between output and production inputs could be estimated statistically and provide the marginal value product information to determine the optimum combination of inputs. A second objective was to determine whether a statistical relationship could be estimated which would predict fuel use in terms of physical boat characteristics for the fishing firms in Oregon. Cross-section data were obtained for analysis from a mail survey of the population of 4,462 commercial fishing firms. Response to the survey was excellent, with 45 percent of the surveys returned. The data were used to estimate production relationships among the fishing firms using gross revenue as a dependent variable and independent variables measuring boat length, engine horsepower, hold capacity, fuel consumed fishing in 1979, mandays of labor used, years fishing experience of the skipper, capital investment in electronic gear and capital investment in deck gear. Two functional forms for regression were used; log-linear and linear. It was expected that the log-linear form of the model would provide the best estimate based on its convenient mathematical characteristics and wide use in empirical research applications. It turned out, however, that the better estimate was obtained with the linear form of the model. This estimate was interpreted as a linear approximation to a segment of the production function and was used to calculate estimates of the marginal value products for the production inputs. To investigate whether a better estimate of the production relationship could be obtained by disaggregating the sample, two disaggregations were tried. The sample was disaggregated into groups of firms having similar characteristics of species fished and also boat length groupings. The results obtained from these estimations were statistically inferior to the estimated relationship using the full sample. The conclusion was made that the production relationships were better estimated across all firms in the sample rather than by disaggregation. The estimation of fuel use by boat characteristics was reasonably successful. Again, a linear model was chosen as the best statistical relationship. The model estimated fuel use by boat length, engine horsepower and mandays of labor. A prediction of the fuel used by all fishing firms was made using data on the population of fishing firms from the 1979 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife license file. The predictive equation used only two variables, boat length and horsepower as these are the only characteristics presently available for the population of firms. / Graduation date: 1981

Graduation date: 1975

Graduation date: 1975

Four separate non-empirical studies are presented together with an extensive preface which indicates their common elements. The first study is concerned with non-existence and instability of bionomic equilibrium as a potential explanation of the 'alleged' poor performance of the fishing industry. A comparative-static model is presented. The results suggest that biological and economic forces need not be compatible with equilibrium and stability. The second study examines the problem of welfare and fishery regulation. It is argued that the objectives and appropriate regulatory regimes must be determined by consideration of limitations on compensations the diverse objectives of various organizational structures, and the efficiency with which regimes can internalize the complex externalities involved. With respect to regulation by public authority, several devices are examined and a tax on catch is shown to be efficient. In accordance with modern welfare economics, the study stresses the need for explicit considerations of compensation of losers. The third study examines the problem of "sports versus commercial" fishermen. It is shown how freedom of access results, under normal circumstances, in losses of welfare in both types of activity. Optimal resource allocation typically requires that different users only be discriminated against if their fishing techniques warrant it. If freedom of access is maintained, discrimination may be justified but only if the benefits are measured on each case. Finally, the indirect method of measuring benefits is evaluated, and rejected for some old and some new reasons. Study four examines the logic of "share systems". Under conditions of certainty, we re-affirm the conclusion that in the absence of technical, administrative or legal constraints, share systems are prone to resource misallocation. When viewed purely as a device for allocating resources under conditions of uncertainty the share system is restrictive and imperfect (if we ignore transaction costs). The system can be rationalized when viewed as a compromise between risk-bearing and incentives. Thus the prime explanation offered for share systems is moral hazard". / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

This thesis explores problems of optimal investment arising in fisheries and other renewable resource industries. In such industries, two simultaneous investment problems must be addressed: investment in the resource stock (the biomass) and investment in the capital stock (harvesting capacity). Each of these investment problems faces a key complication; investment in the resource is constrained by the natural population dynamics, while in many cases investment in the physical capital stock suffers from irreversibility, since capital used in natural resource industries is often non-malleable. In addition, all investment decisions must be made within an uncertain environment; full information is never available. Building upon the work of Clark, Clarke and Munro (Econometrica, 1979), we develop a two-state two-control model which incorporates investment delays and stochastic resource fluctuations within a seasonal (discrete-time) framework. A dynamic programming approach is used to analyse the model heuristically and to obtain numerical results, beginning with a study of the ideal deterministic case and proceeding to a full stochastic analysis. The key assumption of irreversible investment is maintained throughout the thesis. We have examined the qualitative and quantitative effects on optimal investment strategies of several economic and ecological factors: (i) delays in investment, (ii) population dynamics parameters, (iii) selling price, (iv) capital cost and operating cost, (v) depreciation rate, (vi) discount rate, and (vii) the level of uncertainty in the resource stock. We have found that the key cost parameter for the investment problem is the ratio of unit capital costs to unit operating costs. Depreciation can play a rather counter-intuitive role; in some circumstances optimal investment levels can increase with the depreciation rate, contrary to the usual treatment of depreciation as an additional cost of capital. The introduction of uncertainty in the form of stochastic resource fluctuations can substantially change the optimal investment policy, but this tends to have little effect on the value of the fishery. We analyse the factors which determine the role of randomness in optimal fisheries investment, and discuss in some detail the implications for management. Solution of the stochastic optimization problem studied here requires the use of rather complicated numerical methods, which are described in detail in the thesis. These methods are quite general, and should prove useful in analysing other related stochastic models. / Science, Faculty of / Mathematics, Department of / Graduate

This study examines the criteria for efficient fisheries' management, and an efficient allocation of fisheries' labour in the Newfoundland inshore cod fishery. The first part of this thesis (fisheries' management) is an outline of H. Scott Gordon's theoretical model of the fisheries, which deals with the maximization of the social rent from a common property resource. An additional section has been included on the applicability of Gordon's model to the Newfoundland case. This was found necessary, because the organization of effort on the total Newfoundland cod stock, i.e. the inshore and the offshore sectors, present certain practical constraints on the feasibility of optimizing the social rent to this fishery. Indeed, the analysis of this section indicates that, for the present at least, it might be very difficult, administratively, to operate the inshore fishery according to Gordon's efficiency criterion. The second aspect of this study is the problem of low returns to fishermen in the inshore sector of the fishing industry. The theoretical framework used in this section is the staple-mobility theory approach, which maintains that the returns to labour and capital in declining areas need not decline below the returns in occupations of comparable skills, providing, both factors, capital and labour, are mobile. It is hypothesized, therefore, that the low returns to fisheries’ labour is a result of diminishing marginal returns in the fishing industry plus immobility of the fishermen. This necessitated a discussion of possible reasons for this immobility before any policy recommendation is offered. The arguments of high psychic costs, additional remuneration to fishermen from seasonal employment, and the general high unemployment rates in Newfoundland, are presented as likely barriers to mobility from the fishing industry. It is thought, however, that the latter problem, high unemployment rates throughout the rest of the economy, is the most plausible explanation of the immobility of the fisheries' labour force. That is to say, mobility has not been high, because the opportunity cost of this labour is not high. In order to correct this problem of surplus labour in the fishery, it is therefore necessary to improve the alternative employment situation for these men. To do this, some indication of the causes of high unemployment in Newfoundland must be provided. There are two possible explanations of this problem of unemployment. The first, an aggregate demand defficiency argument, is rejected on the grounds that stimulating demand in Newfoundland may not have any employment effects on the island because of import leakages. The second possibility, a structural imbalance, is more acceptable. Assuming a downward flexibility of wages, it is possible to have full employment in Newfoundland, therefore, it could be said that the unemployment problem is a result of a wage rigidity. However, given the present level of resources on the island, and the size of the labour force, it is possible that full employment would take place only at a general level of income considerably lower than Canadian standards. It is suggested therefore that the cause of the unemployment problem in Newfoundland is the result of a lack of mobility of the surplus labour in Newfoundland with respect to the higher income markets outside the province. There would seem to be two ways to correct this problem. (a) To provide incentives for the emigration of labour from Newfoundland, or (b) given sociological barriers to mobility, import suitable industry to the island. Both of these alternatives are briefly examined in the text. The final analytical section of this study deals with government policy for the fishery. The actions of the government can have considerable effects on the type of labour adjustment made between the fishery and other industries. The general conclusion of this thesis, i.e. labour mobility from the fishing industry, is in accordance with certain aspects of government fisheries' policy, but not with others. The government’s emphasis on training and transference of labour to the offshore fishery is acceptable, however it is thought that the subsidization programs for the inshore fishery are defeating the general aim of mobility from this sector. Such a policy is deemed unacceptable from the economic standpoint of an effective utilization of Newfoundland's fisheries' resources and labour. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The ocean fishery is an example of a common property resource industry. Behavior of commercial fishermen is determined by a complex set of economic, environmental and social factors. All of these factors contribute to the individual fisherman's success. Fishermen learn to cope with the variability inherent to their occupation. Two strategies are observed in fishing behavior: The specialist who operates exclusively in one fishery and the generalist who readily switches fisheries according to market, social or management considerations. Traditional fishery models formulated to predict the behavior of fishermen have focused on the specialist. Smith and McKelvey (1986) and McKelvey (1983, 1987) have provided analyses to suggest these two fishing strategies may co-exist in a fluctuating environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the Oregon trawl fisheries for the presence of diversification in strategy selection. To gather the data necessary for testing the hypotheses, interviews were conducted in the trawl fisheries of Oregon, June through December 1985. Three groups of fishermen are identified according to strategy selection. Nominal effort differences and capital-to-income ratios are examined for each strategy type. Additional analysis is done to look at the components of income determination through regression analysis. Discriminant analysis is used to examine the fishermen's attitudes toward switching, risk and management concerns. Among the findings of this research is that specialists and generalists do exist but they cannot adequately characterized by exclusively economic measures. Attitudes shown on the part of the fishermen indicate they feel that management is a significant factor contributing to income variability and strategy selection. / Graduation date: 1988

No description available.