This article uses the propensity-score matching method to examine the effects of a government subsidy program on the profitability of fisheries. The effects are analyzed at the individual vessel level through representative surveys of costs and earnings. Bioeconomic theory and a vessel economics framework for open-access fisheries are the basis for the empirical discussion of a case study involving Vietnam's offshore gillnet fishery. The results demonstrate that the subsidy program has positive effects on vessel profitability, but the profits erode over the two years of the analysis. Subsidies have a positive impact on the operating cash flows of large vessels but negative effects on their intra-marginal rent, and bring benefits to vessel owners rather than crew members. This study reports on the first treatment evaluation of subsidies in a Southeast Asian fishery and discusses evidence that fish stocks may be biologically overfished.

JEL Codes: C31, D01, Q22, Q28.

Technical change is generally seen as a major source of growth, but usually cannot be observed directly and measurement can be difficult. With only aggregate data, measurement puts further demands on the empirical strategy. Structural time series models and the state-space form are well suited for unobserved phenomena, such as technical change. In fisheries, technical advance often contributes to increased fishing pressure, and improved productivity measures are important for managers concerned with efficiency or conservation. I apply a structural time series model with a stochastic trend to measure technical change in a Cobb-Douglas production function, considering both single equation and multivariate models. Results from the Norwegian Lofoten cod fishery show that the approach has both methodological and empirical advantages when compared with results from the general index approach, which has been applied in the literature.

JEL Codes: C22, O39, Q22.

Following decade-long growth in worldwide farming of pangasius and tilapia, imports to Germany, a main European market, have been reduced since 2010. One reason for this might be supply growth of wild species at the total German whitefish market, if market integration exists between farmed and wild-caught whitefish. This article examines market integration between farmed (pangasius and tilapia) and wild-caught (Alaska pollock, cod, and saithe) frozen whitefish in Germany and finds close integration. Hence, prices of frozen pangasius and tilapia fillets in Germany are determined not only by supply of these species, but more importantly by the much larger supplies of wild-caught cod and Alaska pollock. The implication of the presence of market integration is that the small-scale Asian farmers are secured against severe price reductions in Germany arising from farm productivity growth. However, market integration also makes them dependent on quotas and supply of competing wild-caught whitefish.

JEL Codes: C32, F15, Q21, Q22.

This article studies how accounting for the benefits of recreational fisheries affects the formation and stability of an international fisheries agreement (IFA) on the management of Baltic salmon stocks. The interaction between four countries is modelled through a partition function game, under two scenarios. In the first scenario, countries take their participation decision for the IFA based only on the net present value of profits from commercial fisheries. In the second scenario, the net present value of the recreational benefits from angling is also considered. The results show that accounting for recreational benefits leads to the formation of the grand coalition, whereas only partial cooperation occurs when payoffs are confined to profits from commercial fisheries.

JEL Codes: C70, F53, Q22.

In-season transferability of quota plays an important role in multispecies individual fishing quota (IFQ) systems since fishermen often need to acquire quota to balance incidental catch. The optimal utilization of quotas is thus dependent on development of an efficient quota market, but markets in multispecies IFQ fisheries develop slowly andmay fail to performefficiently even after several years. In 2011 an IFQ system was implemented for the Pacific groundfish trawl fishery in the US. After four years, the quota market does not appear to be yielding efficient prices for many species or distributing quota efficiently. I explore the structure and performance of the QP market and discuss the impediments to market efficiency. Drawing from theory and experience in other multispecies IFQ systems, I discuss other quota distribution and catch-balancing mechanisms that can supplement and perhaps improve inefficient markets and enable higher quota utilization rates.

JEL Codes: Q22, D40, L10.