Premium
Potential Economic Benefits from Efficient Harvest of New England Groundfish
Author(s) -
Edwards Steven F.,
Murawski Steven A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1993)013<0437:pebfeh>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - groundfish , fishing , per capita , resource (disambiguation) , yield (engineering) , sustainable yield , business , fishery , natural resource economics , profit (economics) , economics , agricultural economics , fisheries management , ecology , microeconomics , biology , computer network , population , materials science , demography , sociology , computer science , metallurgy
Dissipation of economic benefits from commercial harvest of the multispecies groundfish resource in U.S. waters off New England was estimated from dynamic optimization of empirical bioeconomic models. Net economic value could be maximized by an estimated 70% reduction in fishing effort, resulting in a sevenfold increase in the size of the harvestable resource and a threefold increase in sustainable yield, Under these conditions, fishers, seafood industries, and consumers could benefit from an estimated US$150 million increase in sustainable net economic value each year, including about $130 million in resource rent. Consumers in the region could profit further from the nutritional and health benefits of up to an additional 6 Ib of fresh fish per capita. Policies to achieve these benefits are highlighted. Augmenting state ownership of the resource with market transfers of individual effort or harvest quotas is preferred to open access, but common property or individual private property regimes are more likely to benefit society.