Harvest production and economic efficiency of Bangladeshi industrial trawlers in the bay of Bengal

Abstract

Since the 1990’s development of industrial trawl fisheries of Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has attracted due to its high demand and abundance of fish and shrimp resources. This paper investigates Bangladeshi industrial trawl fishery by employing a bioeconomic model and an input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis. The fundamental objective of this paper is to provide the technique through which long run sustainability can reach an optimum utilization of the resource efficiently to protect marine biodiversity and regenerate fish stocks. For this purpose, a conventional economic model is used simultaneously with a biological population growth model to develop a bioeconomic model. In order to achieve optimal steady state solutions, i.e., optimum levels of stock, harvest and effort are determined and efficiency is compared for five years. This study demonstrates that engine power, and fishing experience strongly affect technical efficiency. Results show that the Bangladesh trawl fishery is not managed and operated optimally and efficiently. Present situation of high effort level, less harvest amount and less fish stock signifies that the danger of depletion of the resource cannot be excluded . Finally, the study will propose some fishery strategies for Bangladesh, such as banning the inefficient trawlers to protect the resource.