Fishing effort coordination and revenue pooling arrangement in fishery comanagement : Evidence from Japan

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of fishing effort coordination and revenue pooling arrangement on overall returns from fishery comanagement. Using the survey data collected from the Japanese fishery management organizations (FMOs) in 2005, we focused on two management measures employed by FMOs: fishing effort coordination and revenue pooling arrangement. We found that FMOs with both effort coordination and pooling arrangement outperformed those with neither or only with either one. The specific activities that these FMOs are engaged in that had positive impacts on their economic performance include marketing and harvest control. Marketing in general had a significant positive effect for FMOs with both measures, but we also found that no single specific marketing activity is a silver bullet, suggesting that the specifics vary from case to case. Our analysis provides a hint of what a fishery comanagement group can do in order to be successful in their management effort.