Assessment of fishing power and fishing capacity of the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) gillnet fishery in the East Sea

Currently, environment-friendly and sustainable fisheries are one of the major issues among fisheries authorities. A variety of alternative management policies and projects are going on to enhance fisheries management systems and fishery resources such as a TAC management program and a VDS (Vessel Day Scheme) management scheme for distant water fishing nations in Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) convention area. These kinds of efforts among fisheries management authorities are aimed at limiting fishing capacity or fishing power. In terms of fisheries management, Fishing capacity and fishing power have increased the importance of the impact on a fishery and level of the resources. Increased fishing capacity and fishing power have caused not only depletion of fisheries resource, but also additional fishing cost. therefore, there is a clear need for authorities to manage fishing capacity and fishing power. It is also help ensure the conservation and sustainability of the fishery resources. Because of lack of data, absolute fishing power is difficulty to measure. The notion of relative fishing power is frequently used. In this study, relative fishing power was assessed using Mastuda (1991) method for fishing power index. The raw data for assessment was based on fishermen's logbook data from sampled fishing vessels in coastal snow crab gillnet fishery. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method was used to assess fishing capacity. DEA is a linear programming methodology to measure the efficiency of a set of entities called Decision-Making Units (DMUs). It was recommended by FAO for assessing capacity in fisheries.