Symposium

 

Fisheries Socioeconomics

 

Sponsored by: AFS Socioeconomics Section

Organized by: John Whitehead, UNCW

 

2003 AFS Southern Division Spring Meeting

 

16 February 2003

8:00 am to 11:40 am

Magnolia Room

Hilton Riverside Hotel

Wilmington, NC

 

Moderators: Peter Fricke, NMFS; John Whitehead, UNCW

1. Economic Impacts of Marine Recreational Angling in North Carolina

Gentner, B.,  NMFS F/ST1, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD  20910, 301.713.2328 ext. 215, brad.gentner@noaa.gov

 

In 1998, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) launched the first marine recreational angler expenditure survey in the Northeast (NE) management region.  This series was extended to the Southeast (SE) management region in 1999.  These surveys were designed to collect the data needed to estimate average and total angler expenditures, by state and resident status, on trip expenses and durable goods for use in economic impact assessment.  IMPLAN was used to estimate the economic impacts of these expenditures.  Across the United States (US) anglers spent $20.4 billion with the SE contributing $12.5 billion.  North Carolina has the second highest expenditures in the SE  after Florida and the third highest in the US after Florida and California.  Anglers in NC spent $170 million on trip expenditures and $1.4 billion on durable goods for a total of $1.6 billion in 1999.  Selected economic impact estimates will be presented for the state of North Carolina.

 

2. Using Quality-Augmented GEDD to Analyze Pelagic Longline Fishery Regulations

 

Dumas, C.F., Department of Economics and Finance, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Rd., Wilmington, NC 28403, 910-962-4026, dumasc@uncw.edu

 

Parker, K.M., Department of Economics, North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC 27695, (919)515-3006, kmparker@unity.ncsu.edu

 

Fisheries managers seek cost-effective regulations to reduce bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries.  Developing such regulations is complicated by significant price heterogeneity across longline target species and across quality grades within species.  General Equilibrium Derived Demand (GEDD) analysis measures the net economic impacts of regulations affecting the interrelated landings of multiple species.  We extend GEDD analysis to capture the economic impacts of changes in catch quality as well as catch quantity.  The modeling framework is used to analyze the potential for improved catch quality to offset reduced catch quantity in regulated longline fisheries.

 

3. Channel Netting in the North Carolina Shrimp Fishery: A Case Study of Territoriality and Local Control

 

Maiolo, J.R., Department of Sociology, East Carolina University, 210 Pungo Lane, Chocowinity NC 27817, (252) 974-0813, johnmaiolo@coastalnet.com

 

Channel netting is a capture method that has never contributed more than a small amount to the state�s annual harvest of shrimp. Still, it is one of the few commercial fishing styles that can be characterized as specifically North Carolinian in both its invention and use. While the capture technology is both interesting and unusual, it is the complex of customs which govern the prosecution of the fishery that offers the social scientist a unique opportunity to add to our understanding of maritime cultures. This paper is part of a larger effort to examine the history and culture of the North Carolina Shrimp Fishery. Within that context, Channel Netting is seen as a locally controlled harvesting complex. It is based on decades of customs and traditions that have survived within a growing formalized management system. Among the more crucial aspects of the local customs are, first, �laying on a set,� which involves a very specific set of procedures for queuing in one�s reservation of, and exit from, a fishing location. This protocol is based exclusively on one�s village of residence. Second, the physical distance between working fishermen clearly is established. Third, fishermen attempting to circumvent established traditions become the subjects of ridicule, and even threats of physical harm in some cases.

 

4. Where Are They Now? Participation Decisions of Displaced Louisiana Gill-Netters and Implications for Multi-Fishery Management Strategies.

 

Holloway, H.A., Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000. (225) 765-2605. holloway_ha@wlf.state.la.us

 

In August of 1995 the Louisiana Legislature passed the Louisiana Marine Resources Conservation Act of 1995 (Act 1316), which imposed restrictions on the issuance of strike net (gill net) licenses based on prior licenses held, history of fisheries violations, and share of earned income from fishing. To ascertain the effect of Act 1316 on participation of Louisiana�s commercial strike/gill net fishermen in various fisheries, license data from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was analyzed to track the license purchases of strike/gill net fishermen affected by Act 1316.  Of 1,046 licensed gill netters in 1994, the last year before passage of Act 1316, 675 (65%) were still licensed as commercial fishermen in 2001.  License data illustrates that those individuals who remained in the commercial fishing industry increased their participation in the oyster, blue crab, shrimp, and set-line/long-line fisheries by varying degrees. This presentation documents the shifts by license type and recent landings data and analyzes age, tenure in a fishery, and geographic location as factors which may have influenced participation decisions.

 

5. Taking Institutions Seriously: Using the IAD Framework to Analyze Fisheries Policy

 

Imperial, M.T., Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC 28403-5607, (910) 962-3220 (W), (910) 962-3286 (Fax), imperialm@uncw.edu

 

Yandle, T., Department of Environmental Studies, Emory University, 1715 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, Phone: 404-727-6314, Fax: 404-727-4448, tyandle@emory.edu

 

Historically, the fisheries management literature has been dominated by three competing paradigms or approaches to fisheries management: the traditional centralized bureaucratic model favoring centralized government regulation; a market-based model favoring individual transferable quotas (ITQs); and a community-based model advocating the self-regulation of fish stocks.  In recent years, co-management has emerged as a fourth approach for managing fish stocks.  Co-management represents an emerging hybrid that borrows techniques utilized by the other three approaches in varying degrees with property rights playing an important role.  This paper examines these four competing approaches to fisheries management using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework.  Our analysis demonstrates that the IAD framework is a useful tool for analyzing fisheries policy because it uses multiple measures of success and draws attention to the full range of transaction costs that influence the development and implementation of fisheries management programs.  If new fisheries management strategies such as co-management are to take hold and flourish, researchers and practitioners much pay closer attention to questions surrounding institutional design and performance.  This will improve our understanding of the relationship between science and human values in decision making.  It will also help researchers and practitioners avoid making faulty policy recommendations.

 

6. Costs of Doing Business for North Carolina�s Northern Commercial Fishers

 

Cheuvront, B., North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, Morehead City, NC, 252-726-7021, Brian.Cheuvront@ncmail.net

 

From 1998 through 2001, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries with funding provided by NOAA through the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act conducted interviews with commercial fishermen from the Albemarle, Pamlico and Core Sound areas.  Over 400 in-person and telephone interviews were conducted.  The topics in the interviews included fishery participation, vessel characteristics, operating expenses, sociodemographics, anthropological constructs, and opinions about fishery management.  This presentation will focus on expenses and business costs specifically related to blue crab, shrimp, southern flounder, and shellfish harvesting.  Results will emphasize economic differences among species, locations, and self-reports of expenditures and profitability.  Additionally, relationships among economic factors and sociological/anthropological variables such as community support, self-efficacy, and user group conflicts will be presented.

 

7. An Analysis of Congestion Measures and Heterogeneous Angler Preferences in a Random Utility Model of Recreational Fishing

 

Schuhmann, P.W., Department of Economics and Finance, Cameron School of Business, 601 South College Road, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403-5945, (910) 962-3417, schuhmannp@uncw.edu

 

Schwabe, K.A., Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92501, 909-787-2361, kurt.schwabe@ucrac1.ucr.edu

 

The potential importance of congestion effects on the management and rationing of recreational facilities and services in the presence of heterogeneous preferences were highlighted nearly twenty-five years ago by Freeman and Haveman (1977).  While there have been a number of theoretical models extending and expanding upon this work (McConnell, 1988; Anderson, 1993), empirical research evaluating such impacts is limited.  Evidence of the potential impacts of congestion on resource usage is of obvious importance, especially for natural resource managers who understand that congestion can be an effective rationing device and because users likely differ in both their preferences for use and aversion to congestion.  It is the objective of this research to compare alternative measures of congestion for explaining site choice within a random utility modeling framework.  The congestion measures differ with respect to the time horizon over which they are assumed to be formulated and the measure of central tendency used to represent them.  Furthermore, we investigate how the response to these congestion measures may differ across two distinct angler types and the implications of those differences on the per trip willingness to pay for stock enhancement.

 

8. Do Angler�s Tell the Truth? Examining Revealed and Stated Preferences for Conservation

 

Gentner, B., NMFS F/ST1, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD  20910, 301.713.2328 ext. 215, brad.gentner@noaa.gov

 

There are many reasons an angler might catch and then release a particular fish species.  The angler may choose to release a fish because it is not suitable for his consumption, he may be forced to release the fish due to regulations, or he may choose to release the fish voluntarily for conservation reasons.  The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) collects catch and effort data from recreational anglers through its Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS), including information on released fish and the reason for release. As a result, NMFS has data on an angler�s revealed preference for conservation. Through a series of economic add-on surveys to the base MRFSS, NMFS has collected stated preference data on the same conservation decision.  A simultaneous probit system is used to analyze the decision to actually release a fish for conservation purposes contingent on the angler�s stated preference for conservation.  The preliminary results show that while the decisions are linked, the linkage is relatively weak.

 

9. Socioeconomic Effects of Pfiesteria

 

Whitehead, J.C., Department of Economics and Finance, Cameron School of Business, 601 South College Road, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403-5945, (910) 962-7497, whiteheadj@uncw.edu

 

Boyd, E., Coastal Resources Management Program, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858, boyde@mail.ecu.edu

 

There is general agreement in the literature that environmental values tend to vary with culture and gender, but sometimes overlap among professions and income groups. Yet the distribution of knowledge about certain environmental phenomena like pollution and risk determines has been shown to differ between socio-economic groups. The probability of cross-class and cross-racial concern and reaction increases when there is a lack of scientific consensus about the phenomenon. The characterization of the toxic dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida, and its potential for risk to human health certainly fit this category, as there are many questions than answers concerning both. This study displays the socio-economic groups of responses to specific survey questions focused on the economic impact of Pfiesteria in the mid-Atlantic region. The results of this analysis show socio-economic stratification as to risk assessment and level of concern, but little in relevance to the identity among those respondents that identify the organism in similar ways.