Overcapacity in Gulf of Mexico reef fish IFQ fisheries: 12 years after the adoption of IFQs

We study the impacts of individual fishing quota programs on overcapacity and the technical efficiency of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper and grouper-tilefish fisheries. We deploy generalized panel data stochastic frontier methods, which allow us to decompose time invariant heterogeneity into both vessel specific heterogeneity and persistent inefficiency. This type of decomposition has recently seen interest in a variety of applied production settings but marks the first use in fishery studies. Our main findings show that roughly 20% of red snapper fleet size could have harvested the entire red snapper quota and that the time-varying technical efficiency of the red snapper fleet grew by 6% post-IFQ. We also find that 57% of the Gulf reef fish IFQ fishery (red snapper combined with grouper-tilefish), had it operated at full efficiency, could have harvested the quota in the early stages of the IFQ program (2011–2016), and that the time-varying technical efficiency of the fleet rose by 5% post-IFQ. “The views and opinions provided or implied in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of NOAA”.“The views and opinions provided or implied in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of NOAA”.