Evaluating the economic effects of fishing vessel buyback programs in Korea

Abstract

Fisheries buyback programs have been implemented from 1994 in Korea, and its scale is estimated to have a value of 930 billion won, which is compounded for eight years since 1994. The paper evaluates the programs' economic and financial viability, and predicts efficient ways about how much and how long to reduce fisheries vessels so as to pursue a target biomass at MSY. For the specific purpose of the paper, aggregate fisheries stock dynamics and catch functions are specified and estimated by yearly catch and fishing effort data from 1970 to 2001, using ASPIC model and Schaefer's logistic production model. Results show that the fisheries stock in Korea has steadily declined since 1970, and that Korean fisheries overexploitation has steadily increased. Using cost-benefit analysis method, the buyback program holds the economic and financial feasibility even if the scale of buyback programs is not sufficient to avoid the downward trend in fisheries stock and harvest. The potential investment scale is predicted in several alternative scenarios using the sensitivity analysis method. The results recommend the annual reduction of 46%, 12% or 20% for the next one year, five years or three years, respectively so that the target biomass at MSY may be reached in 25 years.