Cooperative Formation and Peer Effects in Fisheries

Abstract

The economic benefits that arise following the transition to a rights-based fishery management regime accrue on both the extensive and intensive margins. This research explores the changes in fleet composition, economic performance, and coordination that occurred following the introduction of the Bering Sea Crab Rationalization Program. On the extensive margin, we estimate the relative efficiency of vessels within each fishing cooperative to look for potential arbitrage opportunities when selecting which vessels will fish the cooperative's quota allocation. On the intensive margin, we investigate the role of peer effects in facilitating the flow of information within the cooperative. The results support two hypotheses within the red king and snow crab fisheries: (1) the cooperatives which formed appear to have exploited the Intracooperative efficiency arbitrage opportunities, and (2) an increase In landings by a fellow cooperative member tends to increase one's own landings, a positive peer effect.

Information source preferences of small-scale fishers in the Aegean Sea coast of Turkey

“…Consequently, while developing policy interventions for fishers' information behavior, it may be advisable to do this through other fishers (leader fishers, reputable fishers) among fishing cooperatives. The peer effect among fishers is observed as a significant phenomenon (Felthoven et al 2014). Institutional stakeholders who work in the study area can initiate information campaigns to close information gaps of fishers by focusing on those leaders and reputable fishers in cooperatives.…”

Regulating the Commons: The Interplay between Information and Catch Limits with Two Types of Resources

“…Haskell, Mamula, and Collier (2019) find positive spillover effects among commercial fishers in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery, particularly for those operating out of the same port, which may be the result of shared information. Similar results 9 from Felthoven, Lee, and Schnier (2014) and Lynham (2017) also suggest that fishers gain benefits from peers, but the empirical techniques in these papers cannot inform us as to the mechanism through which the spillovers provide benefits.…”