Program

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6 calls for the prohibition, by 2020, of certain forms of fisheries subsidies, which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. It also stipulates that subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing should be eliminated, and calls on countries to refrain from introducing new such subsidies. Since the early 2000s our group at the University of British Columbia has been compiling and analyzing fisheries subsidies data in support of sound sustainable fisheries management worldwide. One big challenge we’ve faced is the lack of transparency. Here, I present results of two analyses that address two different issues related to transparency in fisheries subsidies. First, I analyze our global fisheries subsidies database to determine the degree of transparency in fisheries subsidies notifications by maritime countries. Second, I report the results of our recent analysis of the proportion of national subsidies that is received by small-scale fisheries (which usually include subsistence, artisanal, indigenous, owner-operator fishing enterprises, mostly situated in developing countries) versus large-scale fisheries. I argue that addressing these questions is important in helping the world achieve the goals of SDG 14.6. To tackle fisheries subsidies, we need to know the quantity and types of subsidies provided by countries to their fishing sector. And, in order to meet the SDG 14.6 requirement that this sub-goal should be pursued while ensuring “that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries” are an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation, we need to understand the distribution and composition of the type of subsidies that go to small- and large-scale fisheries, respectively.

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent development in the literature on fishery subsidies and to identify the areas of future research. In so doing, I first highlight the main challenges that the literature faces, such as data limitations and methodological issues. I then discuss how recent studies deal with them, which will further clarify what are the remaining challenges. The benefit of linking theoretical work to empirical work is also highlighted in the discussion.

Data limitations for both subsidies and resource stocks is a fundamental obstacle for this literature. Subsidy data is typically not available at the fish stock level, so researchers must rely on data at the aggregate level. At the aggregate level, however, stock assessment is not available. Thus, researchers typically use harvests or harvest-oriented resource indices as a proxy for resource stocks. A careful consideration is required in interpreting results from such analyses.

In terms of methodology, there are three aspects that a researcher should keep in mind: omitted variable, reverse causality, and measurement errors. First, an example of omitted variables is business cycle that affects both the budget for subsidies and the demand for fish (which affects resource stocks). Thus, a simple regression of resource stocks on fishery subsidies will misattribute the effect of business cycle to the effect of subsidies. Second, while subsidies may affect resource stocks, resource decline may in turn call for government interventions such as subsidies. In such a case, the regression analysis will give us the mixture of the effect of subsidies on resource and the effect of resource on subsidies. Finally, if subsidies are not reported accurately, the regression analysis will tend to find zero effect of subsidies on resource stocks. These three econometric issues are fundamental and yet relatively ignored in the literature.

The core content of "One Road and One Belt" strategy is to eliminate trade barriers, establish free trade area and promote investment and trade cooperation between the countries in this area. China's export value of aquatic products has been the first in the world. China has always paid great attention to and supported fishery, and it has inputted a lot of subsidies into fishery to ensure the stability of economy of the fishing zone and improve the living standards of fishermen. However, since fisheries subsidies are found to result in problems such as overfishing and distorting international trade.
Using qualitative analysis method, this paper studies the relationship between fisheries subsidies and the export of aquatic products. Using the method of ridge regression and grey slope correlation, this paper analyzes China’s total fisheries subsidies’, diesel subsidies and non-actionable subsidies’ impacts on the export value of aquatic products respectively. Using the standard method, this paper puts forward countermeasures to adjust and improve China’s fisheries subsidies, and then prompt all welfare of the countries of "One Road and One Belt".

Fisheries Economics teaches us that anyone who participate in common pool resource management will end up with the decision of overfishing. This is the theoretically endorsed fact. None of us wants to deplete fish stocks, but simultaneously, we do not want to be poor in our daily life. Rational economic decision drives us to overfish even if we understand sustainable catch will eventually benefit us. This session will show the theoretical background how come people end up with overfishing, and experience it through an economic experiment.

[Objective & Method] Coastal communities have been increasingly challenged by the fluidity of residents because of globalization and environmentally-caused crisis such as climate change. Given this trend, it is urged to find the way where the residents including migrants could behave cooperatively for managing common pool resources. This work, therefore, aims at the two objectives: first is to explore how the degree of cooperative behavior is related to the degree of cohesiveness with the community. Second is to examine if the degree of cooperative behavior and cohesiveness with the community differ between locals and migrants. Data was collected by structured interview for the residents in Shiraho village, Okinawa, Japan and analyzed by principle component analysis, regression analysis, cluster analysis for the first objective, and by ANOVA for second objective.
[Results & Discussion] As a result, we extracted 2 principal components (PCs): community attachment and individual autonomy for people’s cohesiveness with the community, and 3 PCs: pro-community behavior, collectivistic behavior and moralistic behavior for the cooperative behavior. Interpretation among the 5 PCs implicated that the cooperative behavior can be understood as the combination of active and passive cooperation each of which is related to the community attachment and individual autonomy. In addition, there are statistically significant differences between locals and migrants with regard to the pro-community behavior and, in particular, to the community attachment. Based on the results, we discuss that cooperative behavior should be understood among the interaction between community and individuality including both locals and migrants.

Although Japan is one of the largest seafood-consuming countries, with various types of seafood products traded throughout the nation, few studies have explored how this market is integrated from the aspect of market price. Because Japanese consumers in different regions have different preferences for seafood, we focused our study to see how the regional seafood retail markets (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, and Fukuoka) are integrated for ten major seafood products (horse mackerel, short-necked clams, yellowtail, scallops, cuttlefish/squid, flounder, tuna, mackerel, saury, and octopus) consumed in Japan. We applied the relatively new Phillips-Sul convergence test for our analysis. For most of the seafood products investigated in this study, our results indicate that the Japanese regional seafood markets cannot be integrated as a whole and that marketing strategies need to consider the peculiar characteristics of the regional seafood markets.

In Japanese landing market, the fish price is usually determined in the auction. Previous theoretical research (Vickrey,1961) concluded that the price was the same regardless of the methods of auctions. However, no empirical studies exist in Japan to verify this theoretical assertion. It is sometimes argued in Japanese local landing markets that the fish price is influenced by the auction methods or other parameters such as the number of auction participants. To reveal the factors contributing to the fish price at local landing markets, actual transaction data of Japanese spiny lobster in landing markets in Mie prefecture were analyzed. The methods of auctions were investigated using questionnaire surveys and a multiple regression analysis was conducted to verify the factors contributing to the price of Japanese spiny lobster. The price was significantly influenced by the auction methods. In particular, our findings include (1) the price was higher when bidding price was open to all auction participants, (2) price was higher in Dutch auction than English auction, (3) price was higher when larger number of buyers participated in the auction, (4) price was higher when Japanese spiny lobster was traded collectively, by a single large unit per auction per day. The results suggest that auction prices are influenced by various factors including the size of landing market, the information available to the auction participants and the auction methods.

The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting import price of frozen shrimp from Thailand and Vietnam to Japan market in short and long run by Error correction models (ECMs). The time-series monthly data from 2008 to 2016 was used in this paper. The factors which were estimated as determinants affecting the import price were Japanese’s income, the earthquake event in 2011, the discovery of antibiotics from Thailand or Vietnam frozen shrimp, the improvement in the quality of shrimp cultured such as implementation of regulation in Vietnam or application of new technology in Thailand, the import price of frozen shrimp from China and India, the exchange rate and the implementation of EPA. The results of ECMs model showed that, both in short and long run, the import price of Thailand frozen shrimp in Japan market was affected by the import price of frozen shrimp from Vietnam, China and India with positive effects. The similar results also were found for Vietnam frozen shrimp since the import price of Thailand, China and India caused of increasing import price. Based on these results, we concluded that Thailand, China, India and Vietnam were directly competitors for frozen shrimp products in Japan market. Exchange rate between USD and JPY played an important role in the changes of import price for both Thailand and Vietnam frozen shrimp. In long run, the results of this research indicated that the implementation of quality assurance regulation in shrimp cultured caused of increasing in import price of Vietnam frozen shrimp. Meanwhile, the application of new technology in shrimp cultured could improve the competition advantages of Thailand frozen shrimp.
Key words: Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Frozen shrimp, import price, ECMs.

This study was conducted to analyze the farmer's perception of risk and risk management strategies in small-scale shrimp farming. Data were obtained in 2016 from interviews with 166 shrimp farmers in the northern and southern coastal of East Java, Indonesia. The factor analysis was used in data reduction to identify a small number of the factor related to sources of risk and risk management strategies in this study. The results found 32 sources of risk. Shrimp price volatility and high mortality due to shrimp diseases were the most important risk sources in study areas. Regarding risk management strategies, the result showed that small-scale shrimp farmers’ have practiced 35 strategies to cope with the risk in their farms. The top five strategies in small-scale shrimp farming included strict management of water quality, strict feeding management, applying better management practices, preventing shrimp diseases by regular checking, and reducing brackish water pond size. The exploratory factor analysis showed that the risks in small-scale shrimp farming derived from 8 factors consisted of input and pond preparation; finance and credit access; production; personal; harvesting and marketing; weather and environment; policy and institutional; and business environment. These factors explained 73.1% of the observed variation. Furthermore, nine factors sorted for risk management strategies which included diseases prevention; education and technology improvement; the input of production; farm management; government support; risk sharing and insurance; financial; household adjustment; and alternative income sources. To conclude, identifying such risk sources and risk management strategies could contribute to a better understanding of the nature of risk and uncertainty in small-scale shrimp farming. The research findings are expected to contribute for policymakers to design policies and regulations to support the sustainability of shrimp industry, especially in small-scale level.