A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Swedish Fishery for Norway Lobster (Nephrops norvegicus)

A modified version of Jones' length-based cohort analysis is linked to economic data from the Swedish trawl fishery for Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus). The current regulation implies a fishing practice where each landed lobster entails three killed due to discard mortality, and different cases of trawl selectivity are compared together with varying natural mortality. The bioeconomic analysis shows that a maximum economic yield equilibrium requires effort reductions of more than 50%, leading to a potential resource rent of almost US$ 3 million, compared to the open-access situation in 1995. Further increase of the resource rent is possible if a more selective trawl is introduced and enforced. The trawl fishery is compared with a minor in-shore creel fishery, which differs in exploitation pattern, fuel consumption, and impact on the benthic flora and fauna. A qualitative discussion on the two fisheries is carried out and a comparison of the economic performance is presented.

[1]  C. Chapman.  Chapter 4 – Ecology of Juvenile and Adult Nephrops , 1980 .

[2]  Rögnvaldur Hannesson.  The Effect of the Discount Rate on the Optimal Exploitation of Renewable Resources , 1986, Marine Resource Economics.

[3]  Rögnvaldur Hannesson,et al.  Bioeconomic Analysis of Fisheries , 1993 .

[4]  L. Sandal,et al.  Optimal Steady States and the Effects of Discounting , 1997, Marine Resource Economics.

[5]  M. Kaiser.  Starfish damage as an indicator of trawling intensity , 1996 .

[6]  M. Kaiser,et al.  The effects of beam-trawl disturbance on infaunal communities in different habitats , 1996 .

[7]  A. Soubeyran,et al.  Environmental taxation and employment in a multi-sector general equilibrium model , 1996 .

[8]  S. J. de Groot,et al.  The impact of bottom trawling on benthic fauna of the North Sea , 1984 .

[9]  C. Walters,et al.  Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment , 1992, Springer US.

[10]  Vincent F. Gallucci,et al.  Effects of parameter variability on length-cohort analysis , 1988 .

[11]  W. Siu,et al.  Quantifying the impact of trawling on benthic habitat structure using high resolution acoustics and chaos theory. , 1996 .

[12]  C. Clark,et al.  The economics of fishing and modern capital theory: A simplified approach☆ , 1975 .

[13]  J. M. Elliott,et al.  Fish Stock Assessment. A Manual of Basic Methods , 1984 .

[14]  J. B. Jones.  Environmental impact of trawling on the seabed: A review , 1992 .

[15]  J. Pope,et al.  An investigation of the accuracy of virtual population analysis using cohort analysis , 1972 .

[16]  Steen Christensen,et al.  A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Greenland Shrimp Fishery in the Davis Strait , 1993, Marine Resource Economics.

[17]  B. H. Magorrian.  The Extent and Temporal Variation of Disturbance to Epibenthic Communities in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland , 1997, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[18]  Samuel G. Pooley,et al.  A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Lobster Fishery , 1992, Marine Resource Economics.

[19]  G. Mertz,et al.  THE LIMITS OF EXPLOITATION: A PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH , 1998 .

[20]  O Johansson.  CAN REDUCED LOCAL AND REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS MOTIVATE A SWITCH TO BIO-FUELS? , 1997 .

[21]  K. Gilkinson,et al.  Impacts of trawl door scouring on infaunal bivalves: results of a physical trawl door model/dense sand interaction , 1998 .

[22]  Robertson,et al.  Effects of physical trawling disturbance in a previously unfished sheltered Scottish sea loch , 1998 .