Endogenous fisheries management in a stochastic model: Why do fishery agencies use TAC

The aim of this paper is to explain under which circumstances using TACs as instrument to manage a fishery along with fishing periods may be interesting from a regulatory point of view. In order to do this, the deterministic analysis of Homans and Wilen (1997)and Anderson (2000) is extended to a stochastic scenario where the resource cannot be measured accurately. The resulting endogenous stochastic model is numerically solved for finding the optimal control rules in the Iberian sardine stock. Three relevant conclusions can be highligted from simulations. First, the higher the uncertainty about the state of the stock is, the lower the probability of closing the fishery is. Second, the use of TACs as management instrument in fisheries already regulated with fishing periods leads to: i) An increase of the optimal season length and harvests, especially for medium and high number of licences, ii) An improvement of the biological and economic variables when the size of the fleet is large; and iii) Eliminate the extinction risk for the resource. And third, the regulator would rather select the number of licences and do not restrict the season length.

Fiscal Policy and Economic Stability: Does PIGS stand for Procyclicality In Government Spending?

The Financial Crisis has hit particularly hard countries like Ireland or Spain. Procyclical fiscal policy has contributed to a boom-bust cycle that undermined fiscal positions and deepened current account deficits during the boom. We set up an RBC model of a small open economy, following Mendoza (1991), and introduce the effect of fiscal policy decisions that change over the cycle. We calibrate the model on data for Ireland, and simulate the effect of different spending policies in response to supply shocks. Procyclical fiscal policy distorts intertemporal allocation decisions. Temporary spending boosts in booms spur investment, and hence the need for external finance, and so generates very volatile cycles in investment and the current account. This economic instability is also harmful for the steady state level of output. Our model is able to replicate the relation between the degree of cyclicality of fiscal policy, and the volatility of consumption, investment and the current account observed in OECD countries.

O Congresso Nacional e a atividade de inteligência : a função de fiscalização em perspectiva histórica

Traça um panorama histórico da ação fiscalizadora do Congresso Nacional em relação à atividade de inteligência nacional, mais precisamente da Agência Brasileira de Inteligência – ABIN, órgão estatal responsável por essa atividade, na salvaguarda dos conhecimentos sigilosos do Estado, haja vista ser o Congresso Nacional, o órgão responsável pela fiscalização externa da rede e seus componentes. Identificar as vulnerabilidades existentes, principalmente no que tange aos recursos humanos, capital mais precioso desse processo, mas que, pela ganância, vaidade e cobiça, se torna o elo mais vulnerável. A Atividade de Inteligência dentre todas as áreas de controle democrático é a mais arriscada, haja vista a sua importância para o progresso e desenvolvimento de uma Nação. É uma atividade que se desenvolve diuturnamente buscando minimizar as desconfianças de todos os órgãos e organizações estatais envolvidos no processo. A salvaguarda dos documentos e de informações governamentais sigilosas é primordial para a segurança do Estado. A institucionalização da Atividade de Inteligência no Brasil, a partir de 1927, trouxe ao país uma situação antes exercida apenas no âmbito militar. Com leis, decretos, portarias e denominações várias do órgão nacional responsável, são desenvolvidas as ações de coordenação do fluxo de informações necessárias às decisões governamentais. A pesquisa foi realizada com base em fontes históricas e documentais, ressaltando o papel do Congresso Nacional na sua função de fiscalização das políticas de inteligência.

Final report of the Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management (STREAM): a NACA networking initiative

The governing council of Naca has resolved to effect a shift in emphasis from aquaculture development to aquaculture for development. This will require engaging partners from a broad spectrum of government and development agencies, the nature of the information that will need to be gathered and the strategies used for disseminating information and initiating action. The vehicle for operationalising this shift is STREAM - Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management. This report outlines the nature of the STREAM network, its relationship to NACA's vision, mission, objectives and operating principles, and how STREAM differs from previous NACA's networks. Because STREAM is different, a theoretical basis for network communication is presented along with an outline of the preliminary steps in getting the network up and running. (Pdf contains 33 pages).

System requirement report for Level 2 – national management institutions, for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines

This report presents the findings from a thorough literature review, workshops, and group and individual interviews conducted by STREAM in the Philippines in November and December 2003. The ambitious scope of the report combined with the limited time frame and funding available to compile it necessitated the extensive use of secondary data, including both published and unpublished material written by staff of the agencies / organisations involved, with very limited editing of material used. All possible efforts were made to generate information in participation with the government institutions responsible for managing the fisheries, and all contributors (as well as many other stakeholders) were provided with multiple opportunities to comment on the report content. The contributors are listed on the front page of the report. (Pdf contains 56 pages).

An investigation of the organization of canoe fisheries in Nigeria: A case study of Ilaje/Esedo local government area of Ondo State

The effects of some socio-economic variables on the performance of artisanal fishermen were investigated. The variables include the age-structure of the fishermen, level of investment, educational background, membership of co-operative societies and marketing arrangements. All these variables were found to be crucial to productivity in the artisanal fishing sector

Re-emphasizing the importance of Lake Chad fisheries in Nigerian economy: Borno State experience

Nigeria with an estimated population of about 120 million people requires about 2.3 million metric tonnes of fish and fisheries product for good health at the recommended 19 kg/caput/year by FAO. Lake Chad fisheries resource of Borno State is a blessing in disguise to the Nigerian economy. It has potential to produce over 300,000 metric tonnes of fish protein annually, representing about 12.2% of the total fish demand of Nigerians. In spite of this laudable potential Lake Chad fisheries resources of Borno State declined in the past two decades due, largely, to lack of/or inadequate attention by the government, private and commercial organization, lack of social economics and infra-structural facilities for rational exploitations and management of its resources. This paper re-emphasizes the importance of Lake Chad Fisheries of Borno State in the Nigerian economy. The fisheries resources, the environment, the exploitation, the potential marketing, the role of law enforcement and foreign agencies, the constraints and potentials are discussed. Nigeria can derive a substantial proportion of its fish demand from Lake Chad fisheries of Borno State alone just with the adoption of some proffered strategies including combined efforts of the private and public sectors in the rational management of the fisheries resource of Lake Chad

Contribution of women to fisheries development in Kainji Lake basin

The study was carried to examine the contribution of women to fisheries development in the Kainji basin. The sample was drawn in some of the major fishing villages in the sub strata of the basin. A total of 120 respondents were used. The findings revealed that women were involved in fisheries activities most especially in the processing and marketing aspects. Many of the respondents happened to be wives of the fishermen. Few bought fishing equipment with a special arrangement for the supply of fish while some buy from fishermen. This revealed the willingness of the women to be empowered in the economic activities in the area to meet some basic household. Major constrains to the women in this area were the scarcity of fish, no support from the government or private agencies. Recommendations were made on how to enhance women participation in fisheries development

The political econmoy of state government debt : an analysis of constitutional limitations (1961-1990)

Over the past decade, scholarly interest concerning the use of limitations to constrain government spending and taxing has noticeably increased. The call for constitutional restrictions can be credited, in part, to Washington's apparent inability to legislate any significant reductions in government expenditures or in the size of the national debt. At the present time, the federal government is far from instituting any constitutional limitations on spending or borrowing; however, the states have incorporated many controls on revenues and expenditures, the oldest being strictures on full faith and credit borrowing. This dissertations examines the efficacy of these restrictions on borrowing across the states (excluding Alaska) for the period dating from 1961 to 1990 and also studies the limitations on taxing and spending synonymous with the Tax Revolt.

We include socio-economic information in our calculations to control for factors other than the institutional variables that affect state borrowing levels. Our results show that certain constitutional restrictions (in particular, the referendum requirement and the dollar debt limit) are more effective than others. The apparent ineffectiveness of other limitations, such as the flexible debt limit, seem related to the bindingness of the limitations in at least half of the cases. Other variables, such as crime rates, number of schoolage children, and state personal income do affect the levels of full faith and credit debt, but not as strongly as the limitations. While some degree of circumvention can be detected (the amount of full faith and credit debt does inversely affect the levels of nonguaranteed debt), it is so small when compared to the effectiveness of the constitutional restrictions that it is almost negligible. The examination of the tax revolt era limitations yielded quite similar conclusions, with the additional fact that constitutional restrictions appear more binding than statutory ones. Our research demonstrates that constitutional limitations on borrowing can be applied effectively to constrain excessive borrowing, but caution must be used. The efficacy of these restrictions decrease dramatically as the number of loopholes increase.

Poverty alleviation among fishermen within the floodplains of Kaduna River: implication for introducing commercial fish farming at village level in Doko local government area of Niger State, Nigeria

A diagnostic survey was conducted among the fishermen in six selected villages in Doko Local Government Area of Niger State. One hundred and fifty fishermen were randomly selected and interviewed to find out whether or not they had interest in commercial fish farming aimed at improving their livelihood. The dwindling fish catches in the natural flood plain ponds and Ex-bow Lakes continue to have a serious negative effect on the socio-economic well being of the village communities in question. A break on natural regular annual flooding of the plains had resulted into very low natural fish recruitment. Data analysis using simple descriptive statistics revealed that land tenure system, educational status, inadequate infrastructural facilities, religious taboos, existing fish species among others were found to be favourable indices for commercial fish farming. However, serious conflicts among the fishermen concerning the ownership status of these natural fish ponds are found to be major obstacles to commercial fish farming despite that the traditional ownership of the ponds were vested in the lands of individuals and village communities. Extensive fish farming and small-scale fish farming in the ponds and Ex-bow Lake with improved management practices are considered to be profitable venture. Despite the fact that fish seeds supply and extension effort are still inadequate, the fish farmers have indicated willingness to adopt commercial fish farming in the Ex-bow Lakes and flood plains in order to restore abundant fish production thereby providing for their food security and also increasing the daily income

Impact assessment of Niger State fisheries legislation on fisheries conservation in Edozhigi local government area (L.G.A.) of Niger State

A preliminary survey was conducted among the fishermen in five selected villages in Edozhigi L.G.A. of Niger State. One hundred and fifty fishermen were randomly selected and interviewed to find out the impact of Niger State fisheries legislation on fisheries conservation resources in the area. The analysis of data collected using descriptive statistics indicated that undersized mesh of gill nets, beach seines and traps are being used unabated. Also, fenced barriers across the entrance of flood plain ponds and Ex-bow lakes from the main stream are in the area. The fisheries rules and regulations implementers are rarely seen or not seen at all in the area. The decreasing nature of fish catches was detected. It is observed that government policy on fish conversation is neglected due to inadequate or lack of funding for meaningful extension and implementation of the fisheries rules and regulations

A preliminary classification of lake types in Northern Ireland

The EC Water Framework Directive (WFD) introduces the concept of the ecological status of surface waters. The WFD requires that water bodies within an ecoregion are divided into waterbody "types" or "ecotypes". The waterbody type is determined by physico-chemical descriptors. A group of representatives from two government environmental agencies (Environment and Heritage Service and the Industrial Research and Technology Unit) and the two universities (Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster) in Northern Ireland, has been established to develop methods for measuring the ecological status of lakes, for the purposes of the WFD. The work here is that contributing to the first objective classification into waterbody types.

Reconciling yield stability with international fisheries agencies precautionary preferences: the role of non constant discount factors in age structured models

International fisheries agencies recommend exploitation paths that satisfy two features. First, for precautionary reasons exploitation paths should avoid high fishing mortality in those fisheries where the biomass is depleted to a degree that jeopardise the stock's capacity to produce the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). Second, for economic and social reasons, captures should be as stable (smooth) as possible over time. In this article we show that a conflict between these two interests may occur when seeking for optimal exploitation paths using age structured bioeconomic approach. Our results show that this conflict be overtaken by using non constant discount factors that value future stocks considering their relative intertemporal scarcity.