Objective
The objective of the study is to examine the feasibility of reducing fishing effort in the Irish Sea to a level commensurate with the optimal exploitation of its resource. As effort is the product of fishing boat power and time, the objective encompasses studying reduction in both of these parameters, separately and in combination, and the results in terms of both economic efficiency and social equity of the different effort reduction procedures.
The composition and trends in catch in the Irish Sea and the resources committed to the fishing industry in the area in terms of estimated boat numbers and fishing effort have been studied for input into models for fishery management. Two types of model were utilised: a multispecies simulation model and a catch recovery model.
The simulation model utilised functions of price, costs, recruitment, growth and mortality to predict how the fishery would respond to imposition of 6 regimes of quota reduction, by 20%, 40% and 60% for periods of 2 and 4 years, the quota then being allowed to rise to a maximum of 130% of its initial level.
The catch recovery model dealt with 6 main fish stocks (cod, whiting, plaice, sole, eastern Nephrops and eastern Nephrops) separately and aggregated, calculating for each the catch corresponding to decreases in fishing mortality by 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% immediately, by 60% in 6 steps of 10% and 80% in 4 steps of 20%.
The fishermen's response to the suggestion of any form of restraint was found to be very negative, the main objections being that income was now so low that no further decrease could be accepted, and that discipline in the industry would be inadequate for implementation of the effort reduction programme. This reflects the presence of a very high discount rate and a Nash equilibrium in the industry. It was quite clear that implementation would require a massive campaign to commend it to the industry, but if this were achieved, the gains would be very substantial.
Of the 2 models presented, the multispecies simulation model produces more modest gains than the catch recovery model. However, both models suggest that appreciable gains can be attained by short term reductions in catch coupled with permanent reductions in effort in the study area. Various types of regulations which could achieve these objectives are reviewed and it is concluded that the 2 most appropriate appear to be:
time limitation with capacity restrictions;
individual quotas with limits on individual holdings and/or nontransferability.
It is suggested that the area might lend it to being treated as an experimental zone where special schemes along these lines could be tested.
The expected benefits are in the form of information for industry and fishery managers on how to access maximum profit subject to advising the means of effecting the most socio-economically acceptable pattern of distribution of the increased revenue from the fishery.
The work entails modelling: the progress of the fishery; the progress of recovery of revenue due to recovery of stocks as effort is lowered to a level maximising revenue in the medium and long term; and the effects on the fleet and labour forces of different methods and timetables for reducing effort to that commensurate with maximum profit in the medium and long term.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- social sciencessociologydemographymortality
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Dublin 15
Ireland