FisheriesThesteady-statemodel.pptVIP

Fisheries: The steady-state model Richard T. Woodward Department of Agricultural Economics Texas AM University r-woodward@tamu.edu Phone: 979-845-5864 What is an open-access good and why does it lead to inefficiencies? An open access resource is a limited resource that appears to each individual to be limitless. Individuals use the resource without taking into account the effect that their use has on others. Which property right characteristic fails? Example The Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica Solutions to the “Tragedy of the Commons” Limiting the season or otherwise making fishing more difficult (e.g., unreasonable restrictions on equipment or very short open seasons) Solutions to the “Tragedy of the Commons” Limiting the season or otherwise making fishing more difficult Taxing effort Solutions to the “Tragedy of the Commons” Limiting the season or otherwise making fishing more difficult Taxing effort Establishing common ownership over the fishery (fishery cooperatives, 200 mile limit) Individual transferable quotas Why is Fisheries Management so Difficult? Uncertainty (People don’t trust other people’s estimates) Politics Enforcement The simple models don’t describe a complex world Bycatch Summary Biological growth and biological equilibrium MSY, MEY, and open-access equilibrium Open access ? Common property Efficient policies: taxation, establishing ownership over the resource, ITQ’s Inefficient policies: making life difficult for fishermen Fisheries management is difficult, complicated and important! Quantity of Fishing Effort Benefits and Costs of Fishing Effort ($’s) Rents Revenue Costs Ee Effort level determine by the group or otherwise limited  The Problem of Bycatch  World Fish Utilization As there are more fish in the water, reproduction rates go up, causing the population to grow. Eventually however, due to crowding effects and competition for food, the growth rates decline. At the far right point, the carrying capacity of the fi