Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T08:26:08.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maximum Economic Yield and Resource Allocation in the Spiny Lobster Industry*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Joel S. Williams  and
Fred J. Prochaska
Joel S. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute andState University
Fred J. Prochaska
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is produced in the warmer ocean waters and is distinguished from the northern American lobster (Homarus americanus) by its lack of claws and relatively smaller size. Florida lobstermen currently account for 98 percent of the U.S. spiny lobster landings. This industry has grown from annual landings of less than a million pounds prior to the 1950s to 11 million pounds in 1974, with a value of over $13 million [5, 6]. Although no formal demand analysis has been completed, it appears that U.S. demand for this luxury seafood has increased considerably faster than domestic production. In current dollars, prices at dockside increased 251 percent from 39 cents per pound in 1960 to over $1.36 per pound at dockside in 1975 (an increase of 73 percent in constant dollars). Increased demand in the U.S. is further suggested by the fact that U.S. consumption of total world production increased from 53 to slightly over 80 percent in this same period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , July 1977 , pp. 145 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1977

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.)

Footnotes

*

Research reported was jointly funded by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and the Florida Sea Grant Program, 04-6-158-44055. The co-authors share equally in this paper

References

[1]Carlsen, Earnest W.An Economic Theory of Common Property, Fishery Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, Economic Research Division, File Manuscript No. 140, September 1971.Google Scholar
[2]Crutchfield, J. A. “Economic Objectives of Fishery Management,” The Fisheries: Problems in Resource Management, J. A. Crutchfield, Ed., Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1965.Google Scholar
[3]Gates, J. M. and Norton, V. J.. The Benefits of Fisheries Regulation: A Case of Study of the New England Yellowtail Flounder Fishery, Sea Grant Marine Technical Report No. 21, Kingston, Rhode Island: University of Rhode Island, 1974.Google Scholar
[4]Ingle, R. M., et. al. On the Possible Caribbean Origin of Florida's Spiny Lobster Populations, Florida State Board of Conservation, Technical Series No. 40, Marine Laboratory, St. Petersburg, Florida.Google Scholar
[5]National Marine Fisheries Service.Fishery Statistics of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, Annual Issues, Washington, D.C., 1952–1975.Google Scholar
[6]National Marine Fisheries Service. Florida Landings, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., Monthly and Annual Issues, 1971–1976.Google Scholar
[7]Prochaska, Fred J. “An Economic Analysis of Effort and Yield in the Florida Spiny Lobster Industry with Management Considerations,” Proceedings: Tropical and Subtropical Fisheries Technological Conference, Sea Grant, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, 1976.Google Scholar
[8]Scott, Gordon H. “The Economic Theory of a Common Property Resource: The Fishery,” Journal of Political Economy, Volume 62, April 1954, pp. 124–142.Google Scholar