Small-scale artisanal fisheries account for an estimated 40 MMT of catch annually, employing approximately 40 million workers. The promise of rationalization, realized in developed countries, is that good management may generate significant rents. But an important issue for developing countries is: will the rents from rationalization accrue to the poor? I investigate connections between fisheries rationalization, income distribution, and poverty reduction drawing on a model from A.D. Scott (1957). Under open access, a fixed amount of labor is employed such that the value of marginal product (VMP) in agriculture is equal to the value of average product (VAP) in the fishery. Reform is then modeled with a dynamic optimization model, which identifies conditions that generate a high potential payoff to the poor. Whether potential payoffs are translated into actual gains to the poor depends upon political economy factors. I discuss the political economy barriers to pro-poor fisheries reform and potential institutions for sustaining rational fisheries use.

JEL Classification Codes: Q01, Q22, Q28, O13

In this article we present a travel cost model combining revealed and stated preference data on beach use in Delaware and use it to value changes in beach width. We use an in-person, on-site survey at seven bay beaches in the state. The analysis is in two stages. The first is a model for predicting the number of visitors at each site over a 12-month period based on an on-site count of visitors. The second is a single-site travel cost model that combines actual and contingent trip data. We estimate the loss for narrowing beaches to a quarter current width at about $5.00 per day at the beach and the gain from widening to twice current width at about $2.75 per day at the beach. The current width of the beaches is between 50 and 100 feet.

JEL Classification Codes: Q51, Q26

Implementation and management of an ITQ fishery involves significant and costly administrative activities. These activities include formulating and implementing policy rules, monitoring and enforcement to deter illegal behavior, and economic and marine research. In this article we construct a model of a competitive ITQ system to analyze how the distribution of administrative costs between the public and a fishing industry can affect the equilibrium in the quota market, including equilibrium level of administrative costs, and derive results about the optimal distribution of these costs.

JEL Classification Codes: L51, Q22

The purpose of this article is to calculate cost-effective spatial and dynamic allocations of nutrient abatement for reaching targets in a large sea with different and interlinked marine basins. A discrete dynamic model was constructed to account for measures affecting both nitrogen and phosphorus and heterogeneous and coupled marine basins within the sea. Theoretical results revealed that positive decay rates of nutrient pools in the marine basins reduce abatement costs by delaying abatement over time. The results also showed that simultaneous management of both nutrients reduces overall abatement costs as compared with separate management. An empirical application to the intergovernmental agreement on nutrient pool targets in the Baltic Sea was made by combining results from an oceanographic model with an economic model of abatement costs. The results indicate that modest changes in decay rates make a significant impact on abatement costs and that simultaneous implementation of targets for both nutrients can reduce total cost by approximately 15% compared with separate treatment. A robust result is the finding that one country, Poland, faces much higher abatement costs than the other eight riparian countries because of its relatively large discharges into a marine basin with a stringent phosphorus target and slow response to load changes.

JEL Classification Codes: Q25, Q28, Q23

The aquaculture sector is highly exposed to risks such as microbial pollution and oil-spills. This article analyzes risk perception in shellfish farming and the farmers' willingness to rely on hedging mechanisms using logit and ordered multinomial logit models. The results show that the degree of risk perception and reliance on risk management tools can be partly defined through a number of socioeconomic factors specific to the sector. Beyond the conventional self-protective mechanisms, the study focuses on farmers' willingness to rely on risk-transfer mechanisms that the market has so far failed to provide.

JEL Classification Codes: C25, D81, Q12, Q22