The Backward-Bending Supply Curve in Fisheries-Revisited

Abstract

This study discusses and estimates the backward-bending supply curve, using data for three years over a six-year time span from the inshore purse seine fishery in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. Four different models are developed for estimation based on fisheries data, in the absence of stock survey data. The estimated maximum sustainable yield for the anchovy in south-central Vietnam ranges from 138 thousand tons to 293 thousand tons. The results reveal that the anchovy stock to some extent is biologically over-exploited, but seems to have rebuilt in recent years. For management it makes sense to use available, cheaply collected fisheries data on harvests, prices and costs, if biological surveys are lacking, which is often the case due to the cost of establishing expensive research capacities and time series.