Pelagic species are one of the fish stocks which are most vulnerable to unrestrained fishing. Their initial abundance has been a source for substantial profits in the past, with several fishing collapses resulting from it. This paper analyses the case of the pelagic industrial fishery of Northern Chile, estimating harvesting functions which contribute to understand why weak exit incentives may predominate in pelagic fisheries, despite scarcer fish stocks. For the modal vessel size we obtain a catch-to-stock elasticity positive but lower than one. This is consistent with an inverse relationship between a Schaefer-type catchability coefficient and fish biomass. However, as predicted by marine biologists, our results suggest that the degree of catch’s stock dependence is stock-level specific. Also for the modal vessel size, we obtain increasing returns in the use of per-vessel fishing effort and a positive (search) externality resulting from aggregate fishing effort. For smaller vessels, the latter implies a stronger positive external effect. Moreover, we obtain robust indications of prevailing economies of scale in harvesting operations all across our estimation sample, which helps understand the observed technological substitution favoring larger vessels. We end by discussing pending research challenges which may help improve management decisions in Northern Chile and other pelagic fisheries.
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Article provided by Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. in its journal Cuadernos de Economía.
Volume (Year): 36 (1999) Issue (Month): 108 () Pages: 841-873 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML,
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Find related papers by JEL classification: Q22 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Fishery C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data L7 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction
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