Three Essays in Fisheries Economics

Abstract

The first chapter of this dissertation examines how the sample of catches used by researchers to construct catch expectations proxies is selected by the fisher. We suggest a full information maximum likelihood procedure that can purge the bias from predictions of catch. We find impacts from spatial policies are underestimated, and predictions of catch are overestimated, when selection is ignored. The second chapter investigates how catcher-processors in the Bering Sea pollock fishery can transform larger fish into higher-valued products. By accounting for latent heterogeneity across harvesters, we identify potential increases in fishery profits because some vessels tend to harvest young fish that grow at a faster rate, decreasing the future value of the fishery. The third and final chapter suggests a size-based individual quota policy tool that allows more fish to be captured by harvesters while simultaneously increasing the size of the fishery biomass.