An Economic Analysis of New Bycatch-Reduction Policies for the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
By Yong Suhk Wui, Richard T. Woodward, and Wade L. Griffin
ABSTRACT
In an effort to reduce bycatch of red snapper by shrimp fishermen, in 1998 Amendment 9 to the Fishery Management Plan for the shrimp fishery of the Gulf of Mexico mandated the use of certified bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) on all shrimp trawls. However, BRDs are costly to shrimp fishermen and not as effective as desired in reducing juvenile red snapper bycatch (Gillig). The primary goal of this paper is to conduct an economic analysis of two alternative policies aimed at reducing the effort levels of shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico: fractional licenses (FL) and fractional gear (FG) that were suggested by Townsend. Under FL and FG programs tradable fractional rights to either a portion of a license or units of gear rather than the full rights are granted to the fishermen. In our paper we built a theoretical model for FL and FG policies. The theory is developed for an open access fishery with heterogeneous fishermen by extending the graphical representation of Anderson and an analytical representation of Karpoff. We develop a simulation model of the FL and FG policies for the joint shrimp/red-snapper fisheries by modifying a General Bioeconomic Fishery Simulation Model (GBFSM) of Grant and Griffin. GBFSM will be used to compare the new policies with traditional policies including BRDs and license buy-back programs. Comparison will be based on both the economic efficiency of the policy, and the policies' relative effectiveness in leading to the recovery of the red snapper population.
KEYWORDS: bycatch, bycatch reduction devices, fractional licenses, fractional gear, heterogeneous, General Bioeconomic Fishery Simulation Model
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