Browsing by Subject "Fisheries"
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Item Disaster capitalism : tsunami reconstruction and neoliberalism in Nagapattinam, South India(2011-05) Swamy, Raja Harish; Hale, Charles R., 1957-; Ali, Kamran; Brow, James; Ghosh, Kaushik; Bavinck, MaartenThis dissertation examines the impacts of the tsunami of 2004 on economic development priorities in Nagapattinam, South India. By focusing on the manner in which the disaster was cast as an opportunity by the state and multilateral agencies, the unprecedented scale and ambiguous character of involvement by NGOs in reconstruction, and the distinction drawn between economic development and humanitarian aid in the constitution of a reconstruction agenda predicated on the relocation of artisanal fisher communities from the coast, this study demonstrates how post-disaster outcomes are increasingly being shaped by priorities tied to neoliberal globalization. At the same time the processes that unfold are also characterized by significant complexities particularly on account of efforts by affected populations to deploy various strategies to defend their interests, and substantive differences in the approach of NGOs.Item Essays on environmental and natural resource economics(2010-08) Stafford, Teresa Michelle; Williams, Roberton C., 1972-; Abrevaya, Jason; Corsi, Richard; Fullerton, Don; Hamermesh, DanielIn the first essay, I assess the effect of indoor air quality (IAQ) in school buildings on student test performance and attendance rates. Results indicate that performance on standardized tests significantly improves while attendance rates are unresponsive to improvements in IAQ. The improvement in math scores ranges from 0.102 - 0.189 standard deviations per $500,000 spent on IAQ-related renovations and is 35% - 50% greater than the improvement in reading scores. For the same budget, results suggest that the improvement in math scores following IAQ-related renovations is several times larger than the improvement associated with class size reductions. In the second essay, I examine the responsiveness of the daily labor supply of fishermen to transitory variations in the daily wage using data from the Florida spiny lobster fishery. The applicability of this research is both narrow and general. Understanding this relationship is key to determining the effectiveness of landing fees as a means to regulate fisheries. Tracing out the labor supply curve is also fundamental to labor economics and policy. I find that the wage elasticity of labor supply (participation) is positive and statistically different from zero, with a point estimate of 0.967. This suggests an upward slopping labor supply curve and refutes the notion of reference dependent preferences. In the third essay, I examine the bias associated with ignoring the multi-species aspect of labor supply decisions in spatially explicit bioeconomic fishery models. Using a complete 15-year panel of all fishing trips made by fishermen possessing a Florida spiny lobster license, including non-lobster trips, I show that the simplifying assumption of a dichotomous choice structure at the first node (i.e. participate in the target fishery or not) is not innocuous and that predicted participation rates can change substantially with the addition of another species as an outside alternative in the first decision node.Item Essays on externalities and international cooperation : a game theoretic approach(2015-05) Klis, Anna Alexandra; Stinchcombe, Maxwell; Wiseman, Thomas E; Stahl, Dale O; Ryan, Stephen P; Moser, Scott JIn this dissertation, I present three essays which examine questions in the field of public economics using a game theoretic approach, and I derive hopeful results and helpful rules for international negotiation. In my first chapter, I examine minimum participation constraints. In the presence of heterogeneity, a minimum participation (MP) clause in a public goods arrangement can serve as a device to create a more homogeneous group. When coalitions are restricted in what they can bargain over, exclusion of some agents from the bargaining process can be Pareto improving. This paper gives a general set of sufficient conditions for such an exclusion result to hold, and presents examples of when exclusion does, and does not, improve upon unanimity. In the second chapter, I discuss the problem of determining which externality situations merit international cooperation. I create a general framework of linearized parameters to examine a general externality problem, and then I provide the sufficient conditions for a parameter to move non-cooperative and cooperative solutions in opposite directions under certain circumstances. I argue that situations which behave in this manner and which have a higher parameter value have more benefit to cooperation through the increased range in actions to bargain over. The third chapter extends upon the second chapter and applies the framework developed to an externality problem. I present a particular story of correlation in fish growth and a corresponding model which gives an example of an increasing action gap. I describe the method of use of the framework, and using the linearized parameters developed in the second chapter, I attempt to show the divergence of non-cooperative and cooperative actions in this setting, demonstrating the need for negotiation among sovereign entities.Item How access, values, and history shape the sustainability of a social-ecological system : the case of the Kandozi indigenous group of Peru(2010-12) Montoya, Mariana; Young, Kenneth R.; Crews, Kelley A.; King, Brian H.; McClain, Michael E.; Sletto, BjornThis research examines how the Kandozi indigenous group governs access to fish and timber, how access contributes to their well-being, and if the Kandozi’s natural resource use and socio-ecological system are sustainable. The Kandozi occupy a biodiverse tropical forest in the northern Peruvian Amazon with lakes and seasonally flooded areas. This indigenous group has livelihoods that are dependent upon securing access to natural resources that contribute to their well-being; hence it represents a good case study to investigate access and its relation with social-ecological sustainability. Access is defined here as the ability to derive benefits from natural resources. The analysis of sustainability was done by integrating research on both access and well-being. Multiple methods and a comparative examination of access to fish and timber were used to explore historical processes that shape access. The analysis of qualitative data on well-being and quantitative data based on income from fishing activities in 2009, helped evaluate if the Kandozi benefited from the use of resources and clarified the evolution of their quality of life. Hypotheses regarding how spatiality shapes access and how sustainability depends upon access to natural resources were tested. Results indicate that factors such as heterogeneity, kinship, land tenure, the legal framework and knowledge all shape access to natural resources. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in particular is a critical factor because it determines resource availability. Furthermore, this study shows how benefits from the use of resources contribute to the Kandozi’s perception of well-being, defined by them as living without worries, which includes meeting economic, social and cultural needs. Results from this study indicate that perceptions of well-being depend on human values and change over time, consequently the sustainability of the social-ecological system fluctuates. This research concludes that sustainability of this and similar systems are dependent upon the moment at which the analysis is done, because of the changing needs of people over time. This study demonstrates that the range of relations and interactions among different processes that shape access, and the historically contingent characteristic of access and its evolution over time, help better understand complex social ecological systems.Item Last of the watermen : the end of the commercial fishing tradition in the Florida Keys(2010-12) Jones-Garcia, Dawn Elizabeth; Darling, Dennis Carlyle; Lewis, AnneThe time-honored profession of commercial fishing in the Florida Keys is in danger of extinction as each year passes and fewer commercial fishermen remain in an industry that is sinking in the wake of politicians, land developers, and financial woes. At the heart of the problem is the threat of overfishing, a subject that is increasingly at the forefront of media attention and environmental campaigns. The villain in this story of death and destruction more often than not are commercial fishermen. But the blame is misguided. Our fishermen work according to the letter of the law and strive to maintain healthy sustainable fish stocks and sound marine ecosystems. It is unlikely that the American hunger for seafood will diminish so in the absence of locally caught fish the public has no choice but to support the efforts of unchecked foreign fisheries—Fisheries that are not managed as well as ours and in some instances fish until there is nothing left to take.Item Survival and growth of fish in water reclaimed from cattle feedlots(Texas Tech University, 2000-05) Cox, Thomas J.Today there is a growing realization that we must reuse and conserve our natural resources to minimize pollution and environmental degradation. This concern has brought about an interest in integrated systems, which reuse water and produce marketable products in the process. With this in mind, several departments from Texas Tech University have collaborated to construct an integrated system to treat the effluent from a 1000-head cattle feedlot at the Texas Tech Animal Science Farm. This integrated system includes an integrated facultative pond (IFP), which produces and captures methane for energy production, a constructed wetland for filtration and plant production, and a aquaculture system. The goal of this research was: (1) to assess the feasibility of growing and maintaining stocks of bait fish, sport fish, and tropical fish within an integrated system designed to remediate effluents from confined animal feeding operations; and (2) to determine environmental tolerance ranges for each of the fish species tested. This research was conducted at the Texas Tech University 4th Street greenhouse location in Lubbock, Texas. Anaerobically digested cattle manure was diluted with freshwater to prepare seven concentrations, which were loaded into six pilot-scale wetland systems. Effluents exiting each wetland then passed through a four-tank raceway system constructed after each wetland. Fish were evaluated in reclaimed water containing a target COD concentrations of 0, 20, 100, 300, 500, 650, and 900 mg/L. The survival and growth of eight species: koi (Cyprinus carpio). bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), redfin shiner (Notropis umbratilis). tilapia (Tilapia aurea), sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna), and platies (Xiphophorus maculatas) were evaluated in 2-week trials (10 fish/ trial). It was concluded that it is feasible for all of the species tested to be utilized in an integrated waste management system. Koi, platy, bluegill, molly, fathead minnow, redfin shiner were tolerant of COD concentrations up to 366 mg/L. Channel catfish and tilapia were the most tolerant of the species tested and had survival rates as high as 73% in COD concentrations of 810 mg/L. Optimal ranges for each of the species were based on the highest survival, growth rates and condition. Platty, fathead minnow, and tilapia preformed optimally at COD concentrations between 79-145 mg/L. The optimal range for molly, bluegill, and channel catfish was at COD concentrations of approximately 366 mg/L. Koi and redfin shiner survival and growth rates were optimal at COD concentrations between 145-366 mg/L.Item U.S. southeastern shrimp and reef fish resources and their management(2009-05-15) Scott-Denton, ElizabethCatch rates of target and non-target species from commercial shrimp and reef fish fisheries operating in the U.S. southeastern region and associated fishing practices are provided in relation to an environmentally sound and economically driven approach to resource conservation. Beginning in 1992, fishery observers were placed aboard commercial vessels in the southeastern shrimp fishery. From 1993 through 1995 the program expanded to include reef fish vessels in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf), and during 2004 and 2005 skimmer trawl vessels in coastal Louisiana. Data from 27,868 tows were collected aboard shrimp vessels. Total catch rates in kilograms per hour were 30.8 in the Gulf, and 27.7 in the southeastern Atlantic. In the Gulf, finfish comprised 65% of the total weight, with penaeid shrimp at 16%, nonpenaeid shrimp crustaceans at 13%, non-crustacean invertebrates at 4%, and debris at 1%. In the southeastern Atlantic, finfish accounted for 47%, with penaeid shrimp at 24%, invertebrates at 18%, crustaceans at 8%, and debris at 3%. In the Gulf, finfish catch rates by weight were significantly higher in Alabama/Mississippi and Louisiana as compared with Texas and Florida. Shrimp catchper- unit-effort (CPUE) was significantly higher off Texas. For all states areas, higher shrimp catch rates occurred in nearshore waters. Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) CPUE was significantly higher off Texas in offshore waters during September through December. Assessment of the directed commercial reef fish fishery revealed relatively low release mortality. Based on surface release observations of under-sized target and unwanted species, the majority of fish were released alive with release mortality ranging from approximately 2% to 5% for all gear types. Five hundred forty-eight sea turtle captures were documented aboard commercial shrimp vessels from 1992 through 2005. Ratio estimation reflected higher catch rates in nets not equipped with turtle excluder devices (TEDs). Two alternative methods, logistic regression and conceptual modeling, revealed reduced take levels in TEDequipped nets. Data from 307 tows were collected aboard skimmer trawl vessels. Penaeid shrimp accounted for 66% of the total catch, followed by finfish at 19%, crustaceans at 7%, discarded penaeid shrimp at 6%, and debris at 3%.