We analyzed the impact that the advent of the salmon aquaculture industry had on income distribution in coastal communities. Specifically, we evaluated whether salmon farms generated significant changes on household income distribution in the remote coastal areas of the Los Lagos region in Chile between 1992 and 2002. Salmon farms were expected to generate new labor and income opportunities for the local population. The impact on income distribution in the area should depend on which type of households were favored with this increased labor demand: low-income or high-income households.

Recent events around the world have revealed varying degrees of public support for climate change and environmental regulation. Applying a latent class logit model, this study investigates Norwegian and Scottish public’s economic support for proposed deep sea management policies for novel attributes, identifying the presence of preference heterogeneity. Marine litter and health of fish stocks were the attributes with the highest values in absolute terms. This was followed by the size of the protected area coverage, whilst the creation of jobs was the least valued.

Subsidies are part of the set of management tools that governments apply to modernize their fishing fleets and enable them to engage in offshore and international fisheries. Research has shown that subsidies often lead to overcapacity and overfishing, resulting in the depletion of fish stocks. A few studies, however, have found some positive effects for particular subsidies. In this paper, we investigate a credit-linked subsidy scheme in Vietnam, which seems to be justified on the basis of economic, social, and environmental considerations.

Summary.

Abstract: In this paper, we describe and analyze an experience in the use of marine resources as a base for economic activities and development of coastal communities. According to the economic theory of the commons, Chile’s establishment of unique property and user rights for marine resources should reduce over-extraction pressure from open access and thereby improve sustainability of marine resources.

This work presents the results of framed field experiments designed to study the co-enforcement of access to common pool resources. The experiments were conducted in the field with artisanal fishers in Chile. In the experiments, members of a CPR group (called insiders) not only decided how much to harvest but also invest in monitoring to deter poaching by outsiders. Sanctions for poaching were exogenous as if provided by a government authority.

In this introduction to the special issue, “Economics of Marine Resources in the Global South,” we address the current challenges for sustainable management of aquaculture and capture fisheries in developing and transitional countries. We note that the collective action problem remains a major challenge for capture fisheries in the Global South. While aquaculture has been a fast-moving food sector for half a century and provides disadvantaged people in the Global South with low-cost, high-quality protein, negative externalities remain an industry-wide challenge.