Development of effort and fishing fleet capacity in the Icelandic cod fishery

• Main Authors: Gudmundsson, Eyjolfur, Sigurdsson, Thorir, Bergsson, Arnljotur Bjarki
• Format: Report
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade
• Subjects: Fisheries > Economic aspects > Congresses; Sustainable fisheries > Congresses; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/conference_proceedings_or_journals/0p0968034

Individual Transferable Quota systems (ITQ's) were implemented in the Icelandic groundfish fisheries in 1984, or twenty years ago. The system was not a 'pure' ITQ system from the beginning, notably with different regulations for different fleet segments and with several changes along the way. The current system has mostly been unchanged since 1991. This paper looks at the development of effort and fleet capacity between 1980 and 2000 with emphasizes on the trawler fleet. The paper gives a general overview of the development of effort by using several different definitions of effort and capacity. This overview shows a difference in development based on time period and vessel category, suggesting different behavior of fishermen under different versions of the management schemes. The paper then goes on to examine the trawler fleet more closely, with a special emphasizes on the period from 1995 – 2000. A translog cost function for the trawler fleet is estimated, based on observations from individual vessels and fishing companies. The cost function is used to determine the level of production efficiency in the Icelandic trawler fishery and the results from the estimation of the cost function are used to examine if resource rents are dissipated or realized in the Icelandic trawler fishery. Keywords: Iceland, Fisheries Economics, ITQ, Fisheries Management for Industrial Fisheries, Production functions, Resource Rents, Fisheries management