| In Monroe and Collier counties of South Florida, many commercial fishers target spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), stone crab ( Menippe mercenaria), snappers (primarily Lutjanus spp.), groupers (Epinephelus and Mycteroperca spp.) and king mackerel (Scomberomorus cavalla). Each of these fisheries is currently overfished and/or overcapitalized, which reduces potential profits in these fisheries at current harvest levels.; Though most fishers catch several of these species, fisheries management has been on a single-species basis. This approach ignores the production linkages that may exist in the fishery so that fishers can easily redirect fishing effort to fisheries that use similar gear. Understanding the nature and strengths of these linkages will help fishery managers tailor regulation that can optimize efficiency gains and maximize rents across fisheries.; Historical landings of fishers in South Florida were examined by vessel size class and fishing areas for 1994 through 1998. During this period, there was a major redirection of fishing effort (as evidenced by a change in landings over time) towards the Dry Tortugas, Everglades and Fort Myers regions. The share of landings by species varied considerably for each vessel size class. Thus, any new single-species regulation that limits catch will likely have a disproportionate affect on fishers' income and effort redirection.; Using a Leontief revenue function, output supply functions were estimated. It was found that jointness-in-inputs exists for all fisheries as a group, and within groups of fishers. However, input-out separability was rejected. These findings suggest that changes in the use of any input affects the harvest levels of all species. Further, cross-price and effort elasticities were found to be varied generally, but significant.; The estimated supply equations and observed output prices were used to calculate unit rents for each species by fishing areas and seasons. These rents were then used to calculate total fishery rents in a simulation model. The estimated total fishery rents (in 1998) were negative, which suggests that South Florida fishers were receiving below-normal profits for the target species. However, a reduction in the fleet size was found to increase total fishery profits, which makes this strategy a potentially viable option for implementation. |
