A Limited Economic Assessment of the Northeast Groundfish Fishery Buyout Program

The United States and various European Union nations have used vessel buyout programs to reduce harvesting capacity in fisheries. In this paper, we present an analysis of the U.S. Northeast groundfish vessel buyout program. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), we calculate capacity for both the fleet and for the vessels removed through the buyout program. Our analysis suggests that if capacity measures had been used to select vessels, both more capacity and more vessels could have been purchased with the funds allocated to the buyout program. We conclude with a discussion of alternative ways to reduce capacity in fisheries.