Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T01:51:45.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Technical efficiency and the role of skipper skill in artisanal Lake Victoria fisheries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2009

RAZACK B. LOKINA*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Dar Es Salaam, Box 35045, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

Lake Victoria fisheries are important to Tanzanian food security, employment, and foreign exchange, but they have experienced declining performance, largely due to overfishing. This paper studies technical efficiency and skipper skill using Tanzanian fishery data for the two major species, Nile perch and dagaa. The relative level of efficiency is high in both fisheries and several observable variables linked to skipper skill significantly explain the efficiency level.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aigner, D., Lovell, C.A.K., and Schmidt, P. (1977), ‘Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models’, Journal of Econometrics 6: 2137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balirwa, J.S., Chapman, C.A., Chapman, L.J., Cowx, I.G., Geheb, K., Kaufman, L., Lowe-McConnell, R.H., Seehausen, O., Wanink, J.H., Welcomme, R.L., and Witte, F. (2003), ‘Biodiversity and fishery sustainability in the Lake Victoria Basin: an unexpected marriage?’, BioScience 53: 703716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battese, G.E. and Brocca, S.S. (1997), ‘Functional forms of stochastic frontier production functions and model for technical inefficiency effects: a comparative study for wheat farmers in Pakistan’, Journal of Productivity Analysis 8: 395414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battese, G.E. and Coelli, T.J. (1988), ‘Prediction of technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production and panel data’, Journal of Econometrics 38: 387399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battese, G.E. and Coelli, T.J. (1995), ‘A model for technical inefficiency effects in a stochastic frontier production function for panel data’, Empirical Economics 20: 325332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, M.K. and Heinke, J.M. (1973), ‘The allocation of effort under uncertainty: the case of risk averse behavior’, Journal of Political Economy 18: 376385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bundy, A. and Pitcher, T. (1995), ‘An analysis of species changes in Lake Victoria: did the Nile perch act alone?’, in Pitcher, T.J. and Hart, P.J.B. (eds), The Impact of Species Changes in African Lakes, London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Campbell, H.F. and Hand, A.J. (1998) ‘Joint ventures and technological transfer: the Solomon Islands pole-and-line fishery’, Journal of Development Economics 57: 421442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christy, F. (1999), ‘Common property rights: an alternative to ITQs’, FAO/Western Australia Conference on the Use of Property Rights in Fisheries Management, 15–17 November.Google Scholar
Coelli, T.J. (1995), ‘Estimators and hypothesis tests for a stochastic frontier function: a Monte Carlo Analysis’, Journal of Productivity Analysis 6: 247268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coelli, T.J. (1996), ‘A guide to FRONTIER version 4.1: a computer program for stochastic frontier production and cost function estimation’, Department of Econometrics, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.Google Scholar
Coelli, T.J., Rao, D.S.P., and Battese, G.E. (1998), An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupont, D.P. (1990), ‘Rent dissipation in restricted access fisheries’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 19: 2644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggert, H. (2001), ‘Technical efficiency in the Swedish trawl fishery for Norway lobster’, Working Papers in Economics No 53, Department of Economics, Gothenburg University, http://swopec.hhs.se/gunwpe/abs/gunwpe0053.htmGoogle Scholar
Eggert, H. and Lokina, R.B. (2007). ‘Small-scale fishermen and risk preferences’, Marine Resources Economics 22: 4967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, H.W. (2003), Econometric Analysis, Fifth Edition, New York University, Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Hilborn, R. and Ledbetter, M. (1985), ‘Determinants of catching power in the British Colombia Salmon Purse Seine Fleet’ Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 40: 968982.Google Scholar
Huang, C.J. and Liu, J.-T. (1994), ‘Estimation of a non-neutral stochastic frontier production function’, Journal of Productivity Analysis 6: 247268.Google Scholar
Karagiannis, G. and Tzouvelekas, V. (2005) ‘Explaining output growth with a heteroscedastic non-neutral production frontier: the case of sheep farms in Greece’, European Review of Agricultural Economics 32: 5174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kateregga, E. (2005), ‘Essays on the infestation of Lake Victoria by the water hyacinth’, Ph.D. thesis, Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Gothenburg University.Google Scholar
Kirkley, J.E. and Squires, D. (1999), ‘Measuring capacity and capacity utilization in fisheries’, in Gréboval, D. (ed.), Managing Fishing Capacity: Selected Papers on Underlying Concepts and Issues, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 386, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Google Scholar
Kirkley, J.E., Squires, D., and Strand, I. (1995), ‘Assessing technical efficiency in commercial fisheries: the Mid-Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 27: 686–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkley, J.E., Squires, D., and Strand, I.E. (1998), ‘Characterizing managerial skill and technical efficiency in a fishery’, Journal of Productivity Analysis 9: 145160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kodde, D. and Palm, F. (1986), ‘Wald criteria for jointly testing equality and inequality restrictions’, Econometrica 54: 12431248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulindwa, K. (2001), ‘The contribution of Lake Victoria fisheries to the economy of Tanzania’, Paper presented at the LVEMP regional scientific conference in Kisumu, Kenya, 12–16 November 2001.Google Scholar
Kumbhakar, S.C., Ghosh, S.C., and McGuckin, J.T. (1991), ‘A generalized production frontier approach for estimating determinants of inefficiency in US dairy farms’, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 9: 279286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumbhakar, S.C. and Lovell, C.A.K. (2000), Stochastic Frontier Analysis, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuperan, K.V., Omar, I.H., Jeon, Y., Kirkley, J., Squires, D., and Susilowati, I. (2001), ‘Fishing skill in developing countries’ fisheries: the Kedah, Malaysia Trawl Fishery’, Marine Resource Economics 16: 293314.Google Scholar
Lokina, R.B. (2004), ‘Fishermen compliance behaviour to different conservation measures in Lake Victoria fisheries’, Paper presented at the Third Nordic Conference in Development Economics, 17–18 June 2004.Google Scholar
Lovell, C.A.K. (1993), ‘Production frontier and productive efficiency’, in Fried, H.O., Lovell, C.A.K., and Schmidt, S.S. (eds), The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
LVFO (Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization) (1999), The LVFO Strategic Vision (1999–2015).Google Scholar
Meeusen, W. and van den Broeck, J. (1977), ‘Efficiency estimation from Cobb–Douglas production functions and composed error’, International Economic Review 81: 435444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mundlak, Y. (1961), ‘Empirical production functions free of management bias’, Journal of Farm Economics 43: 4456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omer, A., Pascual, U., and Russell, N.P. (2007), ‘Biodiversity conservation and productivity in intensive agricultural systems’, Journal of Agricultural Economics 58: 308329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascoe, S. and Coglan, L. (2002), ‘The contribution of unmeasurable inputs to fisheries production: an analysis of technical efficiency of fishing vessels in the English Channel’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 84: 585597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, R.S. (1994), ‘Community management and common property of coastal fisheries in Asia and the Pacific: concepts, methods and experiences’, Manila: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management.Google Scholar
Reifschneider, D. and Stevenson, R. (1991), ‘Systematic departures from the frontier: a framework for the analysis of firm inefficiency’, International Economic Review 32: 715723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, J.E. and Gréboval, D. (1988), ‘Socio-economic effects of the evolution of Nile perch fisheries in Lake Victoria: a review’, CIFA Technical Paper No. 17, FAO, Rome, 148 pp.Google Scholar
Reynolds, J.E., Gréboval, D., and Mannini, P. (1992), ‘Thirty years on: observation on the development of the Nile perch fishery in Lake Victoria’, UNDP/FAO Regional Project for Inland Fisheries Planning (IFIP).Google Scholar
Schultz, T.W. (1964), Transforming Traditional Agriculture, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Squires, D. (1992), ‘Productivity measurement in common property resource industries’, RAND Journal of Economics 23: 221236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squires, D., Grafton, Q., Alam, F., and Omar, I.H. (2003), ‘Technical efficiency in the Malaysian gill net artisanal fishery’, Journal of Environment and Development Economics 8: 481504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ssentongo, G.W. and Jlhuliya, J. (2000), ‘Report on the Tanzania Fisheries sector review’, FAO sub-regional office for Southern and Eastern Africa, Harare.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R.E. (1980), ‘Likelihood functions for generalized stochastic frontier estimation’, Journal of Econometrics 13: 5866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tveterås, R. and Battese, G.E. (2006), ‘Agglomeration externalities, productivity and technical inefficiency’, Journal of Regional Science 46: 605–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
URT (United Republic of Tanzania) (2004), Ministry of Finance, June 2004 Budget Speech.Google Scholar
Warming, J. (1911), ‘Om grundrente af Fiskegrunde (On rent of fishing grounds)’, tr.P.Andersen (1983), History of Political Economy, Nationalökonomisk Tidsskrift 46: 499505.Google Scholar
Weitzman, M.L. (2002), ‘Landing fees vs harvest quotas with uncertain fish stocks’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 43: 325–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilen, J.E. (1979), ‘Fishermen behaviour and the design of efficient fisheries regulation programs’, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 36: 855858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar