THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF HARVESTING FOR THREE VESSEL TYPES IN THE NORWEGIAN SPRING-SPAWNING HERRING FISHERY

Norwegian spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) is the largest fish stock in the North Atlantic and is harvested by many nations. The introduction of new technology in the 1960s resulted in a substantial increase in the efficiency of the fishing fleet. As a consequence, the stock was fished almost to extinction by the end of the 1960s. In the 1990s, the stock showed healthy growth and Total Allowable Catch (TAC) quotas have increased. This paper adds to the understanding of the harvesting process by providing measurements of the economic structure of the harvesting technology. For this fishery, Norway receives the largest share of the internationally determined TAC quota, and thus, the focus will be to investigate the harvesting process for three vessel types in the Norwegian fishing fleet: purse seiners, trawlers, and coastal vessels. Vessel- level cost and revenue data are available annually for these vessel types for the three-year period 1994–96. Estimates of input elasticities, economies of scale, and cost elasticities for a two-output cost function are reported.