An Empirical Investigation of the U.S. Atlantic Longline Fleet: Specification and Estimation of a Multi-Species Cost Function with Suggestions for Missing Data Problems

Excerpt from Introduction

The 1999 Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas estimated that the North Atlantic swordfish stock was at 65% of the biomass necessary to produce maximum sustainable yield (MSY). In addition, the SCRS considered the bigeye tuna stock to be overharvested as undersized specimens are still being caught. Recent SCRS stock assessments estimate that the Atlantic blue and white marlin stocks, as well as Atlantic sailfish/spearfish stock levels are critically less than necessary to produce MSY. Additionally, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has identified these stocks as overfished (Office of Sustainable Fisheries, OSF, 2001)...

... This paper describes an empirical model of the pelagic longline fleet (the predominate gear type used in these fisheries) that can be used to evaluate allocative and distributional economic effects to the industry of proposed changes in HMS regulations. Additionally, an EM algorithm is proposed to handle missing data problems that are typically present in empirical commercial fishery studies. Model results and implications are presented and discussed. (Click here for paper)

Source: Perruso, L.A., Larkin, S.L., Lee, D.J., and C.M. Adams. 2001. “An empirical investigation of the U.S. Atlantic longline fleet: specification and estimation of a multi-species cost function with suggestions for missing data problems.” In: Proceedings of the First North American Fisheries Economics Forum, April 1-4, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana. Corvallis, OR: International Institute for Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET).

For more information, please contact: Larry.Perruso@noaa.gov