Economic Outcomes for Harvesters under the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program: Have Goals and Objectives Been Met?

Abstract

The West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program was designed to achieve multiple economic goals and objectives, including increasing net benefits, profitability, flexibility, and utilization of harvest allocations. In this article, we leverage seven years of comprehensive cost and earnings data to evaluate progress towards these goals with a focus on harvesters. Our assessment shows that five years post-implementation, net benefits to the nation have doubled, and indicators of productivity and profitability have increased. The fleet that targets Pacific whiting has seen the largest gains, due in part to increases in total allowable catch and the elimination of the race-to-fish. However, increased revenues have not been realized to the degree that was expected for harvesters targeting non-whiting groundfish, partly due to lower than predicted consolidation and relatively low quota utilization. Economic outcomes indicate that tradeoffs exist between certain objectives of the program, specifically between achieving full utilization and flexibility for harvesters. Results are discussed in the context of the design and evaluation of catch share programs for diverse, multispecies fisheries.     

Shorebased Processor Outcomes Under Catch Shares

Abstract

Fishery management measures often aim to regulate harvesting behavior but can have downstream effects on fish processors, output markets, and consumers. Empirical analysis of these impacts is generally limited due to data availability. In this article, we utilize census costs and earnings data to examine operational characteristics and economic outcomes for shorebased processors before and after implementation of the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program. While the overall number of buyers of catch share species along the coast decreased and fish input prices generally increased, patterns in outcomes were different for processors with Pacific whiting operations compared to those that produce nonwhiting groundfish, including lengthened seasonal whiting operations but a decrease in the number of days receiving nonwhiting groundfish. These differences in outcomes illustrate the complexities involved in the management of multispecies fisheries with heterogeneous participants in both the harvest and post-harvest sectors. This review contributes to the fairly limited empirical work on the fish processing sector, which is an integral part of the seafood supply chain and important to the economic resilience of coastal fishing communities.     

Energy use in passenger transport in OECD countries: Changes since 1970

This paper analyzes some of the changes that took place in the structure of energy use for passenger travel in industrialized countries. Data is presented on energy use and travel activity for the four major modes of travel — automobile, bus, rail and air — for eight OECD countries: the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and Norway. We use the Laspeyres and Divisia indices to analyze the causes of the change in energy use between 1970 and 1987. The total change in energy use for travel is explained by changes in domestic passenger transport volumes, the mix of modes of travel, and the energy intensities of each mode. We have found two important effects that have a fundamental impact on energy use for travel since 1970. First, shifts among modes of transport towards more energy-intensive ones and large increases in volumes of travel (measured in passenger-kilometers) increased energy use for travel in many OECD countries, often more rapidly than the overall growth in GDP. Second, energy intensities, measured in mJ/passenger-kilometer, of passenger transport fell only in a few countries between 1970 and 1987. Even though individual automobiles have become more energy-efficient, greater size, power, and weight, worsening traffic conditions in Japan and Europe, and fewer people in cars restrained or even offset efficiency improvements. Particularly notable are the increases in intensities in Japan and Germany. The most important exception to this trend was the United States, but the intensities of land-based travel remain higher there than in most other countries. These findings lead to a pessimistic outlook for future energy use for travel. After all, if little or no energy was saved during the decades of high fuel prices, what can be expected in the 1990s?     

Crew in the West Coast Groundfish Catch Share Program: Changes in Compensation and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Catch share programs can have far-reaching effects on coastal communities and the people that rely on fishing income, including crew members. Analysis of management actions affecting crew wages and well-being is often limited due to a dearth of available data. We examine crew-related outcomes during the first six years of the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program using two unique datasets – a mandatory economic survey and a voluntary social science study. We find that impacts on crew compensation differ from other catch share programs due to prior conditions of the fishery and also vary by the target species within the program. The median number of crew positions per vessel increased slightly, annual crew days decreased, and crew wage as a percentage of revenue was nearly unchanged, even with the introduction of new costs. Median daily crew compensation increased from $514 per day to $776 after implementation of catch shares and annual compensation increased from $33 thousand to $39 thousand. Many crew members expressed a lack of support for the program and job satisfaction did not rise with increased wages and fewer days at sea, indicating that job satisfaction is likely influenced by more than compensation and effort.     

Numerical modeling of exhaust smoke dispersion for a generic frigate and comparisons with experiments

The exhaust smoke dispersion for a generic frigate is investigated numerically through the numerical solution of the governing fluid flow, energy, species and turbulence equations. The main objective of this work is to obtain the effects of the yaw angle velocity ratio and buoyancy on the dispersion of the exhaust smoke The numerical method is based on the fully conserved control-volume representation of the fully elliptic Navier-Stokes equations. Turbulence is modeled using a two-equation （k-ε） model The flow visualization tests using a 1/100 scale model of the frigate in the wind tunnel were also carried out to determine the exhaust plume path and to validatc the computational results. The results show that down wash phenomena occurs for the yaw angles between ψ=10° and 20°. The results with different exhaust gas temperatures show that the buoyancy effect increases with the increasing of the exhaust gas temperature. However, its effect on the plume rise is less significant in comparison with its momentum. A good agreement between the predictions and experiment results is obtained.     

Incorporating equity into the transit frequency-setting problem

This paper and the proposed formulation contribute to an apparent gap in transit research design by integrating equity considerations into the transit frequency-setting problem. The proposed approach provides a means to design transit service such that equitable access to basic amenities (e.g., employment, supermarkets, medical services) is provided for low-income populations or disadvantaged populations. The overarching purpose is to improve access via transit to basic amenities to: (1) reduce the disproportionate burden faced by transit dependent populations; and (2) create a more feasible transportation option for low-income households as an opportunity to increase financial security by reducing dependence on personal autos. The formulation is applied to data from a mid-sized US metropolitan area. The example application illustrates the formulation successfully increases access to employment opportunities for residents in areas with high percentages of low-income persons, as well as demonstrates the importance of considering uncertainty in the locations of populations and employment.