Optimal economic fishing efforts in Korean common octopus Octopus minor trap fishery

The Korean Government is in the process of establishing a plan for managing fishing effort by setting up the maximum fishing gear usage per fishery type for the recovery of fishery resources. This will aid settlement of disputes between fishery sectors over fishing gears, and the stability of fishing business conditions. Especially in the setting up of the maximum fishing gear usage, economic standards as well as biological standards are being considered as significant factors to promote the sustainable and economically viable development of fisheries. This study is, thus, to analyze the optimal economic fishing gear usage (E_MEY) as the most economically efficient usage for the common octopus trap fishery, one of the most controversial sectors in establishing maximum fishing gear usage. Data from logbooks per trip were used for estimation of E_MEY per trip because it was considered there were limitations of data available for analyses. As a finding drawn from the analyses, the E_MEY of common octopus trap vessels per trip has to be decreased by approximately 13%. That is, reducing the trip trap usage up to the level of E_MEY can lead to the reduction of trip fishing costs, thereby resulting in increased trip profits.