Dr. Keith Evans, University of Maine
Seminar Title: “Economic Effects of IFQ Management: The West Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery”
Abstract:
Individual fishing quota (IFQ) regulations have been used in commercial fisheries for roughly three decades. Studies that quantify changes in fishing practices, harvesting efficiency, fleet size and structure, and fishery rent are all but absent from the literature. In this study, we evaluate a switch to IFQ regulations in the US West Coast groundfish trawl fishery over an eight-year period; two-years prior to and six years following the introduction of IFQs. We measure economies of size, capital investment incentives, fishery-wide productivity, vessel-specific efficiency, and annual resource rent during 2009-16. We find that redundant vessel capital exited the groundfish fishery at a rate of 5.77% per year and rent increased at a rate of 6.02% per year under IFQs. Evidence indicates that fleet downsizing and additional rent gains were pending six years after the IFQ program began. These findings suggest the full efficiency gains from rights-based management reform in fisheries may take years to fully materialize. In the case of West Coast groundfish, after six years of IFQs, rent gains are estimated at $31.26 million per year (39.62% of revenue) and are expected to increase. Our results offer new perspective on the benefits of addressing common pool inefficiencies in commercial fisheries.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
3:00pm - 4:15pm
W.B. Young Building, room 304
View the full Fall 2018 ARE Seminar Schedule
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu