FAO Fisheries Circular No. 994 - Measuring and appraising capacity in fisheries: framework, analytical tools and data aggregation

FAO Fisheries Circular No.994

Measuring and appraising capacity in fisheries: framework, analytical tools and data aggregation

by
S. Pascoe
Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources
University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, United Kingdom

D. Gréboval
Fishery Policy and Planning Division
FAO Fisheries Department
Rome, Italy

J. Kirkley
College of William and Mary
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Gloucester Point, Virginia
United States of America

E. Lindebo
Danish Research Institute of Food Economics
Frederisksberg C., Denmark


FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome, 2004

Table of Contents

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ISSN 0429-9329

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© FAO 2004

PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT

In 1998, FAO organized a Technical Working Group (TWG) to discuss issues related to fishing capacity. Major issues discussed included measurement and control methods for managing and reducing capacity. The FAO meeting also served as a basis for the development of an International Plan of Action (IPOA) for the Management of Fishing Capacity. The FAO Committee on Fisheries adopted the IPOA in February 1999. A subsequent FAO Technical Consultation was held in Mexico City in 1999. The purpose of that meeting was to better define capacity and capacity utilization in fisheries, and to examine methods or develop general guidelines that might be used to estimate capacity and excess capacity in fisheries.

Since the 1988 meeting, considerable activity has been undertaken by FAO in studying fishing capacity. This has culminated in several reports, including:

  • Report of the Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on the Management of Fishing Capacity (FAO Fisheries Report No. 586, 1998).
  • Selected papers from the TWG Meeting (FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 386, 1999).
  • International Plan of Action on the Measurement of Fishing Capacity (1999).
  • Report of the Technical Consultation on the Measurement of Fishing Capacity (FAO Fisheries Report No. 615, 2000).
  • A review of policy and technical issues involved in managing capacity (FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 409, 2001).
  • Report on the Expert Consultation on Catalysing the Transition away from Overcapacity in Marine Capture Fisheries (FAO Fisheries Report No. 691, 2002).
  • Selected papers from the Technical Consultation on the Measurement of Fishing Capacity (FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 445, 2003).
A recent report also reviews methods for assessing and managing fishing capacity. The report is in two volumes, published separately. Part 1 provides an overview of basic concepts for the assessment and management of fishing capacity; and Part 2 provides more details on methods for measuring and assessing capacity (FAO Fisheries Technical Papers No. 433/1 and 433/2, 2004).

The present document complements the above documentation and the last document (Technical Paper No. 433) in particular. It includes two papers on the measurement of fishing capacity.

The first paper is introductory and provides a general framework for measurement and assessment. Capacity analysis can indeed assist fisheries managers in obtaining more information on the underlying capacity issues of fishing fleets, in terms of efficiency, productivity and overall balance with available resources.

The second paper presents a practical and illustrative application of these analyses in an empirical setting for the fishing industry. Many tools are available that can be readily applied to input/output data of fishing fleets. Five such approaches are considered in the context of economic theory, namely catch-per-unit-effort, variable input utilization, peak-to-peak, data envelopment analysis and breakeven analysis.

Pascoe, S.; Gréboval, D.; Kirkley, J.; Lindebo, E.
Measuring and appraising capacity in fisheries: framework, analytical tools and data aggregation Nouméa
FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 994. Rome, FAO. 2004. 39p.

ABSTRACT

The present document includes two papers on the measurement of fishing capacity and completes existing FAO documentation on this topic.

The first paper is introductory and provides a general framework for measurement and assessment. Capacity analysis can indeed assist fisheries managers in obtaining more information on the underlying capacity issues of fishing fleets, in terms of efficiency, productivity and overall balance with available resources.

The second paper presents a practical and illustrative application of these analyses in an empirical setting for the fishing industry. Many tools are available that can be readily applied to input/output data of fishing fleets. Five such approaches are considered in the context of economic theory, namely catch-per-unit-effort, variable input utilization, peak-to-peak, data envelopment analysis and breakeven analysis.

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