CONVERGENCE ANALYSIS ON THE FISH STOCK STATUS INDEX FOR 131 COUNTRIES

Abstract

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the share of fish stocks of unsustainable levels or overfished increased from 10% in 1974 to 31.4% in 2013. However, there are some well-managed regions where stocks are stabilizing and many badly managed regions where stock continue to decline. Using Fish Stocks Status data from 1980 to 2014 for 124 countries, this research examines how different income and regional subgroups contributed to reach globally unsustainable high overfished level by the use of convergence analysis. The result is that a majority of subgroups do appear to adjust their current fishing rate, in part, to their past level of overfishing. In other words, they will speed up their rate of catching when their past level of overfishing is low, and vice versa, following the principal of convergence theory. However, one or two subgroups such as Latin America and Caribbean region or the upper middle-income subgroup do not follow this majority's rule, making it harder for other subgroups and countries to control the escalating global overfishing level. Several policy implications from these findings will be discussed.