Bioeconomic Analysis of Marine Fish Production in West Bengal

Abstract

This paper presents the research findings of the study on the costal fisheries of Midnapore East, one of the costal districts of West Bengal by applying Surplus Production Model developed by Schaefer. We have estimated maximum sustainable yield (MSY), maximum economic yield (MEY) and open access yield (OAY). The Bioeconomic Model suggests the output corresponding to maximum sustainable yield is less than that of maximum economic yield, suggesting that allowing the fishermen at the point corresponding to optimum economic profit will violate the sustainability criteria. Open access yield (free access fishing) has been wasteful because it requires more effort and results in smaller catch than it would have been at MEY. So some regulatory mechanism in fishing effort is needed urgently to prevent over harvesting of stock.

Keywords: Bio economics, Fishery, Sustainability