Diego Valderrama

The Fishery Performance Indicators: A Management Tool for Triple Bottom Line Outcomes

Pursuit of the triple bottom line of economic, community and ecological sustainability has increased the complexity of fishery management; fisheries assessments require new types of data and analysis to guide science-based policy in addition to traditional biological information and modeling. We introduce the Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs), a broadly applicable and flexible tool for assessing performance in individual fisheries, and for establishing cross-sectional links between enabling conditions, management strategies and triple bottom line outcomes. Conceptually separating measures of performance, the FPIs use 68 individual outcome metrics—coded on a 1 to 5 scale based on expert assessment to facilitate application to data poor fisheries and sectors—that can be partitioned into sector-based or triple-bottom-line sustainability-based interpretative indicators. Variation among outcomes is explained with 54 similarly structured metrics of inputs, management approaches and enabling conditions. Using 61 initial fishery case studies drawn from industrial and developing countries around the world, we demonstrate the inferential importance of tracking economic and community outcomes, in addition to resource status.

Improving Utilization of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Resource: An Analysis of Rotational Management of Fishing Grounds: Reply

An age-structured bioeconomic model was constructed to determine optimal patterns of exploitation for the U.S. Atlantic sea scallop fishery. Results indicated that economic rents are maximized by engaging in pulse fishing strategies, whereby fishing only occurs following a multi-year closure period. Closures allow biomass to accumulate undisturbed for several years in a row, leading to the harvest of premium-size scallops upon reopening of the fishing grounds. Closures also result in substantial reductions in operating fishing costs. The rotational harvesting strategy was found to be robust with respect to a number of assumptions in the model. Policy implications are discussed. (JEL Q22)

Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras

Abstract Honduras is the leading producer of pond‐raised shrimp in Central America, but profitability of operations is affected by fluctuating yields and prices which generate economic risk. An analysis of the financial risks associated with different management strategies would provide useful management guidelines. Data from a 1997 survey were used to develop enterprise budgets and a risk analysis for three farm‐size scenarios (73, 293, and 966 ha) and for a group of farms exhibiting an alternative, more intensive level of semi‐intensive technology (AST farms). Economies of size related to fixed costs and to feed, repair, and interest costs were identified. Net returns/ha were highest for the AST farms while low net returns/ha reported by the other farm groups were connected with low yields, conservative input usage rates, poor survivals, and economies of size. To minimize potential for loss, farms should target a minimum acceptable yield that would vary with farm size.

PRICE TRANSMISSION IN NEW SUPPLY CHAINS—THE CASE OF SALMON IN FRANCE

In recent years there has been increased interest in the transaction forms in salmon markets, given that contracts have become more common, vertical mergers create firms that cover several levels in the supply chain, and futures markets have developed as a price risk tool. These are strong indications that salmon supply chains are developing in the same direction as supply chains for more processed food products. In this article we investigate to what extent this development has influenced the price transmission process for two product forms: a relatively unprocessed one (fresh fillets) and a more processed one (smoked salmon). Results indicate that the supply chain for fresh fillets can still be characterized by a high degree of price transmission. On the contrary, the hypothesis of full price transmission for smoked salmon is rejected.

Effect of Stocking Density on Production Characteristics, Costs, and Risk of Producing Fingerling Channel Catfish

Abstract A pond production trial was conducted to compare the yield, growth, feed conversion ratio, costs, and economic risk of producing fingerling channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus at stocking rates of 1,398,990, 543,334, 211,010, and 81,955 fry/ha to obtain fish of the following lengths: 2.5, 7.6, 12.7, and 15 cm. Mean weight at harvest decreased as a logarithmic function of the stocking rate (y = 127.896 – 8.719·log ex; R 2 = 0.87), while yield increased linearly with the stocking rate (y = 1,347 + 0.003x; R 2 = 0.87). A stocking rate of 211,010 fry/ha resulted in an 84% certainty that costs would be less than US

The Economics of Kappaphycus Seaweed Cultivation in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Farming Systems

0.004/cm. Higher densities resulted in a certainty of 99% that the on-farm production costs would be less than the market price, while the lower density had a certainty of only 20%. The higher densities resulted in the greatest yield, number, and total length of fingerlings. The lowest density produced larger fingerling sizes, but the substantially lower yield resulted in the highest costs ...

Farm-level costs of settling basins for treatment of effluents from levee-style catfish ponds

The farming of the red seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii and related species as raw material for the hydrocolloid carrageenan rapidly spread from the Philippines in the late 1960s to Indonesia, Tanzania, and other tropical countries around the world. Although numerous studies have documented positive socioeconomic impacts for seaweed farming, factors such as diseases and distance to export markets have led to an uneven development of the industry. Using standard budgeting techniques, this study adapted production and market data from a FAO-led global review of seaweed farming to develop comparative enterprise budgets for eight farming systems in six countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Tanzania, India, Solomon Islands, and Mexico). Although the basic technology package is the same across countries, the study revealed large differences in the economic performance of systems due to wide variations in farm prices and the scale of operations. Although seaweed farming is a suitable activity for small-scale producers, a minimum of 2,000 m of cultures lines are still necessary to ensure adequate economic returns. Greater farming plots may be needed if farm prices are well below the average farm prices paid in Indonesia and the Philippines. Policy recommendations are made to improve the economic potential of underperforming systems.

Economic effects of implementing selected components of best management practices (BMPs) for semi‐intensive shrimp farms in Honduras

Abstract Compelled by pending regulatory rule changes, settling basins have been proposed as a treatment alternative for catfish pond effluents, but the associated costs to catfish farmers have not been estimated. Economic engineering techniques were used to design 160 scenarios as a basis for estimating total investment and total annual costs. For static-water, levee-style catfish pond facilities, sizing of settling basins is controlled by factors such as type of effluent to be treated, pond layout, size of the largest foodfish pond, number of drainage directions, scope of regulations governing effluents, and the availability of land. Regulations that require settling basins on catfish farms would increase total investment cost on catfish farms by

Production Characteristics, Costs, and Risk of Producing Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, Fingerlings on Farms with Thinning

126–2990 ha−1 and total annual per-ha costs by

Farming of seaweeds

19–367 ha−1. More numerous drainage directions on farms resulted in the greatest increase in costs. While both investment and operating costs increased with larger sizes of foodfish ponds, costs per ha were relatively greater on smaller than on larger farms. For farms on which existing fish ponds would have to be converted to settling basins, over half of the cost was due to the production foregone and annual fixed costs of the pond. Requiring catfish farmers to construct settling basins would impose a disproportionately greater financial burden on smaller farms. The magnitude of the increased costs associated with settling basins was too high relative to market prices of catfish for this technology to be economically feasible.