The restoration of fishing services and the conveyance of risk information in the Southern California Bight

Southern California's marine areas are heavily contaminated with dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs), and fish consumption advisories (FCAs) have been issued throughout the region. Between 2002 and 2003, the Montrose Angler Survey, a large-scale survey of subsistence anglers, was developed and implemented on site in Orange and Los Angeles counties. This survey was intended to assist natural resource trustees in the development of restoration programs that will address injuries to natural resources and restore lost economic services for anglers, but the data were never fully analyzed. The trustees have shown a clear preference for ecological restoration programs that may take years to improve fishing services. In contrast, this analysis, which includes a random-parameter fishing site choice model, demonstrates that simple, inexpensive programs such as better signage to warn of FCAs and transportation to clean sites have the potential to yield substantial benefits quickly. This paper also focuses on how different ethnic minority groups are affected by FCAs, and determines how best to communicate risk information and change fishing behavior through outreach programs.     

Regulation of the fishing activities in the lagoon of Venice,Italy: Results from a socio-economic study

In the last years, the overall fish industry in the lagoon of Venice has shown a gradual decline. In order to better understand this process, we carry out a socio-economic questionnaire next to the fisherman population. Questionnaire contains significant qualitative and quantitative data that allow us to evaluate the social and the cultural profile of the respondents, including information with respect to the different technological fishing characteristics involved, type and amount of the species harvested as well as the overall productivity of the activity. Furthermore, the questionnaire contains an economic valuation exercise so as to assess in monetary terms the preferences of the fishermen with respect to different alternative policy options that may characterize a future regulation of this economic activity. Estimation results show that fishermen welcome any regulation initiative that is characterized by: (1) banning all fishing activities during the night, (2) allocating fishing concessions areas to each fishermen in a way that minimize the distance between the fishing area and the harbor, and (3) by introducing of a labeling mechanism that certifies the origin of the product. Moreover, the underlying economic valuation mechanism reveals to sensitive to respondent's motivational profile, including the overall trust and confidence that fisherman community places on the current institutional bodies. This result reveals to be of particular significance when attempting the design of an efficient, widely supported regulation of the fishing activity in the lagoon of Venice.     

Recreational fishing and boating: Are the determinants the same?

The research uses household survey data collected from 656 people in Townsville (adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia) within a hurdle model to investigate key factors influencing both the probability of participating and the frequency of (a) boating trips which involve fishing; (b) boating trips which do not involve fishing; and (c) land-based fishing trips. The findings suggest that there are differences in determinants, highlighting the importance of disaggregating the fishing/boating and boat/land-based experience (an uncommon practice in the literature) if wishing to obtain information for use in the design of monitoring programs, policy and/or for developing monitoring and enforcement strategies relating to fishing and boating.     

Farming the reef: is aquaculture a solution for reducing fishing pressure on coral reefs?

This paper presents the results of an analysis to determine the financial and social feasibility of aquaculture technologies for live reef organisms, including food fish and marine ornamentals, as an alternative to wild capture of live reef organisms in nearshore waters in the Indo-Pacific region. The paper provides information and policy guidance for appropriate aquaculture technology application for Indo-Pacific nations, which are the source of most live reef organisms supplied for international trade. Cautionary evidence indicates that, under certain conditions, some forms of small-scale aquaculture of live coral reef organisms can be a useful solution for reducing fishing pressure on coral reefs.     

Experimental Investigation and Numerical Analysis to Develop Low-Energy Large-Midwater Trawls

Fuel consumption in fisheries is a primary concern because of its effects on the environment and the costs incurred by fishermen. Many studies have been conducted to reduce the fuel consumption in fishing operations. Fuel consumption due to fishing gear during a fishing operation is generally related to the hydrodynamic resistance on the gear. This means that fuel consumption is proportional to the drag created by the towing speed. Based on numerical methods, this study suggests a new approach to reduce fuel consumption in fisheries. The results of the simulation are in good agreement with those of model experiments. The total as well as partial resistance forces on the gear are calculated by simulation. The simulation results suggest improved materials and gear structure for reducing the hydrodynamic forces on the gear while maintaining gear performance. The method for assessing the gear performance involves measuring the height and width of the net mouth. Furthermore, this study investigates the efficiency of a low-energy trawl from an economic point of view. The findings of this study will be useful in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in fishing operations, and thereby contribute toward lowering fishing costs by saving fuel.     

Patterns in the spatial distribution of Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens) revealed by spatially explicit fishing data

Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens) stock abundance is tightly driven by the high and unpredictable variability of the Humboldt Current Ecosystem. Management of the fishery therefore cannot rely on mid- or long-term management policy alone but needs to be adaptive at relatively short time scales. Regular acoustic surveys are performed on the stock at intervals of 2 to 4 times a year, but there is a need for more time continuous monitoring indicators to ensure that management can respond at suitable time scales. Existing literature suggests that spatially explicit data on the location of fishing activities could be used as a proxy for target stock distribution. Spatially explicit commercial fishing data could therefore guide adaptive management decisions at shorter time scales than is possible through scientific stock surveys. In this study we therefore aim to (1) estimate the position of fishing operations for the entire fleet of Peruvian anchovy purse–seiners using the Peruvian satellite vessel monitoring system (VMS), and (2) quantify the extent to which the distribution of purse–seine sets describes anchovy distribution. To estimate fishing set positions from vessel tracks derived from VMS data we developed a methodology based on artificial neural networks (ANN) trained on a sample of fishing trips with known fishing set positions (exact fishing positions are known for approximately 1.5% of the fleet from an at-sea observer program). The ANN correctly identified 83% of the real fishing sets and largely outperformed comparative linear models. This network is then used to forecast fishing operations for those trips where no observers were onboard. To quantify the extent to which fishing set distribution was correlated to stock distribution we compared three metrics describing features of the distributions (the mean distance to the coast, the total area of distribution, and a clustering index) for concomitant acoustic survey observations and fishing set positions identified from VMS. For two of these metrics (mean distance to the coast and clustering index), fishing and survey data were significantly correlated. We conclude that the location of purse–seine fishing sets yields significant and valuable information on the distribution of the Peruvian anchovy stock and ultimately on its vulnerability to the fishery. For example, a high concentration of sets in the near coastal zone could potentially be used as a warning signal of high levels of stock vulnerability and trigger appropriate management measures aimed at reducing fishing effort.     

The demise of the small fisher? A profile of exiters from the New Zealand fishery

New Zealand's exclusive economic zone encompasses a significant fishery that is managed by a market-based quota management system. Since the introduction of this regime in 1986 over 3000 fishers have exited the industry. These exiters are predominantly small-scale fishers. This study profiles a sample of the exiters, using information provided on the Ministry of Fisheries database and through a questionnaire sent to the exiters themselves. The profile includes information on the scale of exiters, their typical methods of fishing, the importance of time and exit price to the exit decision, and post-exit employment outcomes.     

Seals and fisheries in South Africa — competition and conflict

There are two types of interactions between seals and commercial fisheries in South Africa: biological (potential competition for shared resources between the two "predators") and operational (conflicts during fishing operations). Using data for the 1980s, a comparison is made of relative consumption by different predators in South African waters. Seals and fisheries are not the major consumers in the system, but they do take comparable amounts. This has resulted in calls for a reduction in the seal population, but to date, no studies have shown that reducing seal predation of commercial species will make more fish available for the fisheries. Most fisheries are subject to some form of operational interaction with seals. These interactions include consumption of catches (operational consumption), disturbance of fishing operations (operational disturbance) and damage to fishing gear (operational gear damage); they vary in degree of severity, both seasonally and regionally. Estimates of the consumption by seals from fishing operations in South Africa show it to be a minimal percentage of fishery catches and a small proportion of the total predation by seals. Preliminary calculations of overall economic losses resulting from seal interference show this to be small in comparison with the wholesale value of the catches. Seals die as a result of fishing operations, and estimates of the potential mortality through entanglement, drowning and deliberate killing indicate this mortality to be of a magnitude that should be monitored.     

Responses and adaptation strategies of commercial and charter fishers to zoning changes in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Fishers' responses to changes in resource access through the imposition of marine protected areas can be a critical factor influencing the likelihood of achieving management objectives.Face-to-face interviews with 114 commercial and charter fishers were conducted to investigate their responses and adaptation strategies to the increase in the size and number of no-take zones imposed by the 2004 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning plan. Despite holding positive attitudes towards marine biodiversity protection, fishers were generally unsupportive of the new zoning plan 5 years after its implementation. Fishers' lack of support was related to the perception that they had not been adequately engaged in the rezoning process and the perception of significant impacts of the zoning plan on fishing businesses. Fishers generally believed that the new zoning plan had a negative impact on their access to productive fishing areas, the numbers of fish they catch, the profitability of their fishing business, and their personal income. In response to the new no-take zones, fishers tended to redistribute their fishing activity to locations closer to their home port, and to locations already known to them through their previous fishing, resulting in an increase in high density fishing locations within the park. Despite the impacts that fishers experienced, most reported that they have adapted their fishing activity and fishing business at least moderately well to the new zoning plan, suggesting that many of the impacts experienced by fishers might be short-term and may decline over time as fishers learn to adapt to the new zoning system. The information provided should prove valuable as a baseline for continued monitoring of the costs and benefits of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park rezoning into the future.     

Stated preferences for size and bag limits of Alaska charter boat anglers

Over the last several years, significant regulatory changes related to Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis have occurred in the for-hire recreational charter boat fishing sector in Alaska. In addition to limited entry restrictions and adoption of a catch sharing plan that provides a formal means of determining allocation between the commercial and charter boat fishing sectors, more restrictive harvest regulations were placed on anglers fishing from charter boats. This article provides insights into how the value anglers place on charter boat fishing is affected by these regulations, principally bag and size limits. Such information is helpful in assessing the trade-offs in economic benefits associated with different regulatory tools used to manage angler harvest levels. Stated preference choice experiment data from a 2012 survey are analyzed using a panel rank-ordered mixed logit model to estimate the economic value, or willingness to pay (WTP), non-resident anglers place on saltwater charter boat fishing trips in Alaska and to assess how changes in characteristics of fishing trips, particularly harvest restrictions related to Pacific halibut, affect this value. The model specification accounts for a wide array of size and bag limit restrictions that have been recently implemented or are under consideration by Pacific halibut fishery managers. The results indicate that very strict harvest restrictions have the effect of driving WTP to zero, while allowing at least one (potentially) large fish to be caught is valuable to anglers. The results also suggest that WTP for fishing trips with bag limits that allow two or more fish to be harvested with no size restrictions on the first fish harvested are not statistically different from the value for trips for larger bag limits or for the case where all the fish in the limit can be any size. This suggests that fishery managers can restrict the size of the second fish in a two-fish bag limit and still maintain economic values for fishing trips.     

Discards in North Sea fisheries: causes,consequences and solutions

Discards refer to that part of the catch returned to the sea during fishing operations. This study assesses the consequences, causes, and potential solutions to the discard problem using the example of North Sea fisheries. Fishermen's immediate objectives during fishing operations and the low confidence in projected gains from discard reduction measures have promoted use of unselective trawls while the poor enforcement of the quota system has exacerbated discard quantities. It is concluded that a reduction in discard rates is required for a long-term solution to the ecological and economic costs of discarding and the development of fishing opportunity incentives can promote the use of more selective fishing techniques.     

A comparison of economic performance in the fisheries sector: A short- and long-term perspective

Indicators of the economic performance of fishing vessels are frequently computed in various countries. In this paper, we use different types of information to assess capital value and the economic performance of fishing vessels. On the one hand, field surveys provide technical and financial information on the main components of fishing capital. On the other hand, book values are given in bookkeeping databases. We use both sources of information on fishing capital are used for the same set of vessels, namely the commercial fishing fleet of the French region of Brittany. Based on these two sources, measures of economic performance can be produced for the short term using gross surplus; and for the long term including the cost of capital. The measures of performance obtained are presented and the differences between them are then discussed.     

The economic importance of the Icelandic fisheries cluster—Understanding the role of fisheries in a small economy

Expansion and development of the fisheries sector was the driving force behind Iceland’s economic transformation during the 20th century. However, the role of fisheries in national and regional economies is neither well documented nor understood. National accounts do not fully reflect the significant part played by the fisheries as they do not take into consideration the various ways economic activity in the fisheries sector affects other branches of the economy. The fisheries sector, which includes fishing and fish processing, has been established as a base industry within the Icelandic economy. Using data collected during 2010 and 2011 and cluster analysis techniques, this paper seeks to establish the economic importance of the fishing industry in Iceland. As a base industry, this paper finds that a wide range of companies have gradually developed to service the sector and through these interlinkages, the fisheries sector and its related operations can be viewed as an industry cluster.     

The value of recreational fishing in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: A pooled revealed preference and contingent behaviour model

Given the focus on protecting natural assets in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, it is important for managers and policy makers to understand the value of recreational fishing in the area, and how changes in management may affect those recreational values. Travel cost methods were used to estimate the value of recreational fishing in the Capricorn Coast in Central Queensland using data from on-site surveys conducted at boat ramps. The study also uses contingent behaviour models to estimate the change in the value of recreational fishing as conditions vary. Results indicate that there are high values associated with recreational fishing activity along the Capricorn Coast, and that the demand for recreational fishing is inelastic and that values are relatively insensitive to changes in catch rates.     

基于高空间分辨率卫星遥感影像的围填海存量资源监测与评估研究——以营口市南部海岸为例

为详细掌握围填海存量资源状态,提高海域空间资源监管精细化水平,本文提出围填海存量资源概念,并将围填海存量资源划分为围而未填区域、填而未建区域、低密度建设区域、低洼坑塘、低效盐田和低效养殖池塘等6种类型,以及工业区、城镇区等围填海存量资源的消耗类型。在此基础上,采用高空间分辨率卫星遥感影像,建立了面向对象的围填海存量资源遥感影像分类提取方法与技术流程,构建了围填海存量资源指数,并以营口市南部海岸区域为例进行了实证研究。结果表明:（1）面向对象的围填海存量资源遥感影像分类提取方法能够精细地提取围填海存量资源信息,准确率达到90%以上;（2）填而未建区域、低效盐田、低效养殖池塘占研究区围填海存量资源总面积的62.51%,研究区围填海存量资源指数为0.49,但内部差异明显,北部区域为0.66,中部区域为0.44,南部区域为0.37。     

Japanese investment in the US fishing industry and its relation to the Two-Hundred-Mile Law

After providing a statistical survey of Japanese direct investment in the US fishing industry, and a historical background of Japanese-US fishing relations, the author examines the statutory regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fishing industry. She then discusses international practice and restrictions on FDI, the recent response of Congress in view of the Two-Hundred-Mile Law, and the issue of protectionism and the competitive position of the US fishing industry.     

台湾海峡及其邻近海域渔业资源的管理

应用Ｓｃｈａｅｆｅｒ和Ｆｏｘ剩余产量模式及其由此衍生的生物经济模式和Ｇｕｌｌａｎｄ最适产量Ｙ０．１模式,分别估算了台湾海峡及其邻近海域渔业资源的最大持续产量、最大持续捕捞力量,并对各模式计算的诸项经济指标进行比较,讨论了渔业管理方案,确定了近期适合国情,并对各模式计算的诸项经济指标进行比较,讨论了渔管理方案,确定了近期适合国情、省情的管理目标。     

Escape the lion cage: Social networks by catch zones of small-scale fisheries in the oil settlement of Lobitos (Peru)

Artisanal fishing communities are often in conflict with the interests of the oil extraction industry, industrial fishing fleets and tourism. This paper considers Lobitos, a fishing enclave in northern Peru, where the oldest oil settlement in Latin America was established. The primary focus is community organization and development of the fisheries. Using a mixed methods approach, intensive ethnographic observation and analysis of the social networks of the skippers of small-scale fishing vessels was conducted by in-depth interviews with 30 artisanal fishermen, together with a social network survey involving 43 boat captains in Lobitos. The results showed the mistrust and negative attitudes of fishermen towards oil companies and the industrial fishing fleet. However, they expressed positive expectations regarding tourism development, as well as favorable attitudes towards the diversification of fishing activity through tourist services. The networks of acquaintances, social support and exchange of ecological information allowed us to identify three different groups of fishermen according to preferential fishing zones. The skippers of vessels that prefer to fish in intermediate zones have a prominent role, both in terms of local leadership and through the connection with boats belonging to other bays near Lobitos. This subgroup acts as an intermediary in the networks a whole and has an integrated vision of the coastal ecosystem. Network measures and preferential fishing zones can be used as indicators to assess the degree of availability and preparation for the implementation of new uses in the fisheries sector associated with tourism and heritage.     

Fisheries annual fixed cost data collection and estimation methodology: An application in the Northeast,U.S.

Information on the cost of fishing is integral in measuring fisheries performance and correctly evaluating the economic impacts of fisheries regulations and management rules. However, limited availability of cost data often renders such analyses either incomplete or implausible. This study discusses a survey effort that was undertaken in the Northeast US to collect fisheries annual fixed cost data directly from commercial fishermen. Stratified random samples of fishing vessel owners were surveyed in 2012 and 2013. An overview of the survey procedures, sample selection and administration is given here. The data cleaning process, non-response bias and data summaries are also presented. A modeling framework is discussed for estimating fisheries cost data. Robust cost models in combination with regular data collection efforts will allow for more complete economic and financial analyses relevant to fisheries management and conservation.     

Connections or conflict? A social and economic analysis of the interconnections between the professional fishing industry,recreational fishing and marine tourism in coastal communities in NSW,Australia

Resource conflict is a common feature of coastal management. This conflict is often managed by using spatial planning tools to segregate uses, with access decisions made through a comparison of the economic costs and benefits of the competing sectors. These comparisons rarely include an in-depth analysis of the extent or nature of the conflict. One commonly experienced form of resource conflict in coastal communities involves professional fishing, recreational fishing and broader coastal tourism. In New South Wales, Australia the professional fishing industry is often seen as being in conflict with recreational fishing and tourism, and there are frequent calls to close areas to professional fishing, arguing that this will provide improved economic benefits to local communities. This research examined the relationships between the three sectors using economic valuations, qualitative interviews and a large-scale representative questionnaire of the general public. The results revealed highly interconnected and mutually supportive relationships, with professional fishing providing a range of services that benefit both tourism and recreational fishing. These results suggest that spatial management exercises that seek to segregate or remove one sector from an area, may be counterproductive to the interests of all these groups. Relying on economic valuations of each sector as if they stand alone is insufficient to adequately understand their roles in local communities. Resource allocation decisions should be based on evaluations that consider the interconnections between sectors, and consider whether negotiated sharing of resources may provide greater community benefits than excluding certain groups of users.