In the past three decades, there has been a move towards rights-based management of access to marine fisheries, especially individual transferable quotas (ITQs). Although it is generally agreed that ITQs improve the economic efficiency of fisheries, few empirical studies examined how stakeholders respond to the incentives set in an ITQ fishery, determining the actual economic, social and ecological outcomes of such a management system. This thesis addresses the question of how fishers and quota owners make decisions regarding their fishing activities in the context of an ITQ system. The study focuses on the Tasmanian rock lobster fishery. In 1998, ITQs were introduced in the fishery in an attempt to decrease fishing effort, while the total allowed catch (TAC) would restore the stock at a sustainable level. The thesis investigates the dynamics of the fishery as it evolved during the decade after introduction of ITQs. The study is based on an empirical analysis of the changes that occurred in the fleet and its activity, and on a bio-economic simulation model. To understand the complex dynamics of the fishery, fishing activity of the fleet was categorised as metiers that account for the spatial and seasonal heterogeneity of biological characteristics, infrastructure and weather encountered in the fishery. These metiers were used to inform an agent based model of fishing behaviour. The model combines individual decisions on allocation of fishing effort with a quota trading market where quota owners can lease in/out quota according to their expected economic performances. Empirical analysis shows that ITQs reduced the overcapacity in the fishery and that the TAC allowed the stock to rebuild. The impacts of ITQs on the fishery were the results of both structural changes of the fishing fleet and of the change of fishers behaviour. Fishers responded to the management change by modifying their fishing strategies in space and time to increase profit. In addition, the ownership of the fishing rights changed toward a higher proportion of quota owned by non-fishers, although concentration of quota has been limited in the fishery. The bio-economic model was used to investigate the key drivers that underpin fishing and quota-trading decisions by the fishers and profit-maximising decision process predicted well the observed fishing behaviour. The limitation of quota aggregation is believed to have facilitate the reduction of excess capacity of the fleet but could constrain economic efficiency of fishing firms. The model was also used to assess the future of the fishery and test scenarios on the potential impacts of changes in the economic and ecological environment in which the fishery operates. Although the future of the fishery remain uncertain, integrating dynamic fishing behaviour in projection models reduce the uncertainty and the use of economic drivers to simulate decision process allows to explore a wide range of scenarios regarding economic predictions and their outcomes including social and economic considerations.

One of the significant contributions of this study is its inclusion of the role of social contextual factors in determining parenting. I built on the ecological model proposed by Belsky (1984). As such, the parenting model tested in this dissertation included individual level determinants of parenting: 1) parent characteristics (e.g., developmental history), and 2) child characteristics (e.g., behavior problems). Yet, rather than include a social context domain as described by Belsky, I distinguished between within family context (e.g., interparental hostility) and external to family context (e.g., work-family conflict, neighborhood disorganization) as social contextual sources of stress and support to the parent-child relationship. A second significant contribution of this study is attention to parent gender. I included assessments of both mother and father parenting and specifically test for hypothesized differences in how the predictive model might operate differently depending on the parent’s gender. It is important to note further that the accomplishment of this examination of parent gender involved the use of a methodology that is itself an important contribution to the existing work. Specifically, my methodology involves simultaneous testing of mother and father data, something that has not typically been done in past studies. Critically, this methodology controls for any overlap or similarity between mother and father parenting and thereby allows for a better test of the uniqueness of mother and father parenting and of patterns of predicting mother and father parenting. This study employed parent reported data from the NIMH-funded Ogden Youth and Family Project, a longitudinal, sequential-cohort study of families with adolescent children (N = 933). Using structural equation modeling, we found that the model adequately fit the data while direct and indirect effects on parenting were found. The individual level parenting determinants of child behavior problems and parental depression were significantly directly associated with parenting, particularly for fathers. The within family contextual variable of covert marital conflict was directly associated with father parenting, and directly and indirectly associated with mother intrusive parenting through maternal depression. As risk factors external to the family, workfamily conflict was not significantly related to parenting, and neighborhood disorganization was indirectly related to intrusive mothering (but not her supportive parenting or to father’s parenting), through elevated levels of marital conflict and depression.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-224). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Bibliography: leaves 147-149. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA, 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-56).

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Oklahoma, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-70).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1978.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 334-362). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ56270.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration