The economic structure of harvesting for three vessel types in the Norwegian spring-spawning herring fishery

Abstract

Norwegian spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) is the largest fish stock in the North Atlantic and is harvested by many nations. The introduction of new technology in the 1960’s caused a substantial increase in the efficiency of the fishing fleet. As a consequence, the stock was fished almost to extinction by the end of the 1960s. In the 1990s, the stock has shown healthy growth, and Total Allowable Catch (TAC) quotas have increased. This paper adds to the understanding of the harvesting process by providing measurements of the economic structure of the harvesting technology. For this fishery, Norway receives the largest share of the internationally determined TAC quota and thus the focus will be to investigate the harvesting process for three vessel types in the Norwegian fishing fleet, i.e., purse seiners, trawlers and coastal vessels. Vessel level cost and revenue data are available annually for the three vessel types for the three-year period 1994-1996. Estimates of input elasticities, economies of scale and cost elasticities for a two output cost function are reported.