Quota Market Structure and Operation and the Value of the New Zealand Fisheries: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications

Fisheries worldwide continue to suffer greatly from the negative consequences of open access, despite numerous regulatory “solutions”. In 1986, New Zealand responded by establishing the most comprehensive market-based system for fisheries management, resulting in the creation of currently more than 150 “fish stock markets” differentiated by geographic region and species.

Numerous articles have assessed the operation of the policy over the years (see for example Shallard (1996) Batstone and Sharp (1999), Clark and Major (1988), Pearse (1991), Sissenwine and Mace (1992) Boyd and Dewees (1992), and Annala (1996)). However, there has been very little empirical economic analysis of the markets (for
exceptions see work by Batstone and Sharp (2000) and Connor (2000)). Our previous paper (Straker and Kerr 2002) gives a more detailed discussion of the New Zealand literature and more complete list. There has been more empirical literature internationally but even there it is sparse and they struggle with limited datasets (e.g.:
Weninger, Q. (1998), Squires, D., M. Alauddin, and J. Kirkley. (1994) as well as those discussed in specific sections below). We aim to address this gap in the literature.