This article proposes a quantitative investigation of the claim that improving water quality does not yield rents in commercial fisheries that are inefficiently managed. Specifically, a combined ...model of the resource dynamics and fishing effort is used to investigate the effects of policy scenarios on water quality improvements on the American lobster fishery in Long Island Sound. Results indicate that short-run positive rents can be extracted from the lobster fishery even when inefficiently managed, but they dissipate in the long-run as suggested by the economic literature.
II.SEAMEN'S CLAIMS A. Jones Act2 and Unseaworthiness3 In an issue "of considerable importance in maritime law," the Ninth Circuit addressed the availability of punitive damages for unseaworthiness in ...Batterton v. Dutra.4 The Ninth Circuit held that punitive damages are awardable to seamen for injuries in general maritime unseaworthiness actions.5 The Ninth Circuit determined that not only did Miles v. Apex Marine Corp.6 not implicitly overrule the its previous decision in Evich v. Morris,7 which permitted punitive damages for unseaworthiness in death cases, but also that Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend8 made clear that the statutes which restricted compensation for pecuniary losses did not apply to punitive damages claims.9 In Knudson v. M/V AMERICAN SPIRIT, the Eastern District of Michigan likewise held that a seaman plaintiff can be awarded punitive damages in an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner. 10 The court reasoned that since Congress has not legislated to limit recovery of nonpecuniary loss in a seaman's action for non-fatal injuries, the plaintiff could seek punitive damages for personal injuries in his unseaworthiness claim.11 B. Maintenance and Cure12 In Joyce v. Maersk Line Ltd, the Third Circuit, sitting en banc, broke with its own precedent and adopted the majority position regarding the enforceability of maintenance rates in collective bargaining agreements.13 Every other circuit to consider the issue has held that a union contract including rates of maintenance, cure, and unearned wages that is freely entered into by a seafarer will not be reviewed piecemeal by courts unless there is evidence of unfairness in the collective bargaining process.14 The Third Circuit split with its sister circuits in Barnes v. Andover Co. L.P., 15 when it held that an injured seaman was not bound by the fixed maintenance rate in a union contract, which was subject to change by court order to conform with traditional maritime law.16 In Barnes, the court reasoned that binding an injured seaman to a less than adequate rate of maintenance set forth in a union contract was inconsistent with the long-standing maritime rule that actual expenses can be recovered and that, absent legislation to the contrary, the common law remedy must remain in full force.17 In re-examining Barnes, the Third Circuit found that it "would be hard-pressed to say that courts have no power to modify unearned wage rates established by collective bargaining agreements" if Barnes remained valid law.18 Instead of extending the Barnes ruling to unearned wages, the Third Circuit overruled its decision in Barnes in light of "the 'modern reality' of unionized seafarers who negotiate for comprehensive contracts" and enforced the rate of unearned wages set forth in the collective bargaining agreement at issue.19 In Kalyna v. City of New York, the Eastern District of New York considered whether a shipowner's rules and procedures for reimbursement of medical expenses, including its refusal to communicate directly with the plaintiff's physicians, were so onerous as to amount to a willful and wanton disregard of its maintenance and cure obligations.20 The court reasoned that the employer's imposition of a procedure, which must be followed by all individuals seeking maintenance and cure, demonstrated its mindfulness of its obligations.21 The court found no precedent for imposing an affirmative duty upon ship owners to seek out a seaman's medical records and contact his provider.22 The court further reasoned that in light of Hicks v. Vane Line Bunkering, Inc.,23 in which "the ship owner's active interference with the doctor-patient relationship was held to be evidence of the ship owner's inappropriate and egregious conduct," vessel owners must be cautious in dealing with Plaintiff's medical providers.24 Ultimately, the court held that the seaman's attempt to amend his complaint to assert claims for punitive damages was futile.25 The Southern District of Illinois awarded a seaman maintenance and cure in Williams v. Central Contracting & Marine, Inc., despite that the seaman failed to disclose his history of back problems prior to his employment.26 The record showed that the seaman made at least two claims for back injuries while working for previous employers, and failed to disclose these prior injuries before beginning work for the defendant. 27 The defendant failed to ask the seaman any questions regarding his health or physical condition before hiring him, and the seaman believed he was physically capable of performing the work at the time.28 The court held that the seaman's omission did not compromise his entitlement to maintenance and cure.29 C.Seamen Status and Other Issues In the Matter of Buchanan Marine, L.P., the Second Circuit considered whether a barge maintainer, who was injured when he slipped on wet stone along the margin deck of a barge he was inspecting, was a seaman under the Jones Act.30 The court considered that, as a barge maintainer, the claimant was not a crew member, was not assigned to any vessel, and never operated a barge.31 The claimant only worked aboard barges and only when they were secured to the dock in order to inspect them for cargo loading and cargo transport.32 The claimant reported directly to the dock foreman, belonged to a union for equipment operators, and did not have a maritime license.33 Weighing the total circumstances of the claimant's employment, the court found that "none of his work was of a seagoing nature and he was not exposed to the 'perils of the sea' in the manner associated with seaman status. "147 In In re M/VMSC Flaminia, the long-running litigation arising from the July 2012 fire and explosion aboard the M/V MSC FLAMINIA (the "Flaminia"), the district court issued two substantial opinions setting forth its findings of fact and conclusions of law, following a "Phase I" trial concerning the cause of the explosion, and a "Phase II" trial concerning liability.148 In Phase I, the court made factual findings relating to the cause of the explosion aboard the Flaminia.14 The court found that auto-polymerized DVB80 ("DVB"), a chemical contained in a container aboard the Flaminia, ignited by a spark, caused the explosion and fire, and identified factors that substantially contributed thereto as to the decisions how and where to ship that chemical, the placement of the DVB in the ship's holds and the ventilation conditions, all of which contributed to higher ambient temperatures which caused the DVB to overheat and ultimately catch fire.150 In Phase II, the court determined that two parties were liable, the manufacturer of the DVB that caused fire (the "DVB Manufacturer"), and the non-vessel operating common carrier ("NVOOC") that had booked transport aboard the vessel and was responsible for trucking the DVB to port.151 By contrast, the court found that the ocean carrier, the vessel's owner and its operators, and the manufacturer of adjacent high-temperature cargo did not bear responsibility.152 The court also found that with respect to indemnification and contribution claims asserted amongst the parties, the ocean carrier, the vessel owner and its operators were entitled to full indemnification from the DVB Manufacturer and the NVOOC.153 The Court ordered the parties to mediation to resolve the remaining issues in the case, including the quantum of damages.154 On October 9, 2018, the DVB Manufacturer and the NVOOC also filed interlocutory appeals to the Second Circuit from the court's findings of fact, conclusions of law, and certain evidentiary rulings.155 In Liberty Woods International, Inc. v. Motor Vessel Ocean Quartz, the Third Circuit contemplated the validity of a bill of lading's forum selection clause, requiring suit to be brought in a jurisdiction that did not recognize in rem suits, under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act ("COGSA").156 The Third Circuit rejected the District Court's misinterpretation of COGSA, but affirmed the district court's dismissal of the in rem suit against the Vessel for improper venue based on the validity of the forum selection clause requiring suit be brought in South Korea.157 The court rejected the appellant's arguments that: (1) COGSA created a substantive right to in rem suits; and (2) even if in rem suits are not a substantive right, the forum selection clause effectively relieves or lessens ship liability in violation of COGSA because South Korea does not allow in rem suits.158 The Third Circuit reasoned that COGSA protects ship liability and is not procedural means for enforcing liability or any particular vehicle for imposing it.159 The court noted the existence of other avenues for imposing liability in situations where in rem suits are prohibited, such as a letter of undertaking ("LOU") providing security for an in personam suit in South Korea.160 X.MARITIME LIENS, ATTACHMENT, AND SHIP MORTGAGE ACT A. Maritime Liens In Portland Pilots, Inc. v. NOVA STAR M/V, the First Circuit was tasked with determining whether a pre-established rental cost of linens, napkins, and uniforms by a charterer, pursuant to a rental and services contract, could be included in a maritime lien claim.161 The rental and service contract included a termination fee that stated that the charterer was required to purchase all of the rental items if the contract was terminated early.162 To start, the First Circuit recognized the two-fold purpose of a maritime lien: "first, to allow ships to continue to function for their intended purpose, and second to hold the ship-rather than its owner-liable for its debts. (Hellas), Ltd., the Second Circuit held that a freight forward agreement made between plaintiff-appellant shipping company d'Amico Dry Limited ("d'Amico"), and defendant-appellee ship management company Primera Maritime (Hellas) Limited ("Primera") was a maritime contract and that the Court had admiralty jurisdiction.263 The Court found that "the combination of d'Amico's iden
This paper introduces satellite-tracked real-time data from a large fishing firm managing its vertically, horizontally, and geographically linked ships to study the causal impact of integration on ...total factor productivity (TFP) after the firm acquired its vertically unintegrated contractual fish suppliers. TFP increased 16% among newly integrated ships, whereas it did not vary for already owned ships. Some classic mechanisms such as increased effort due to monitoring do not systematically explain TFP gains under integration, whereas evidence on hold-up threat alleviation is mixed. Importantly, enhanced knowledge transfer and hierarchical authority enacting productivity-improving operational practices among newly integrated ships are more likely explanations of the results.
This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.
...the diverse socioeconomic practices of local actors collide with a form of authoritarian normalization promoted by public authorities. Coral is an important component in Mediterranean jewelry, and ...it has also been increasingly used in bone surgery. Because coral extraction has historical roots in El Kala, and also plays a key role in the local economy and environment, it is a crucial sector for understanding the tense relationship between the Algerian state and its margins. ...coral extraction acts as an effective metaphor for thinking about the place of natural resources (and notably hydrocarbons) in the political economy of Algeria, and the unwanted effects of developmental policies, including environmental degradation and the proliferation of illegal practices. ...acts of regulation can also result in moments of revolt, for example after a crackdown on coral smugglers.
In this paper we examine ways Sahelian floodplain fishers have adapted to the strong environmental variations that have affected the region in the last two decades. We analyse their vulnerability and ...adaptive capacity in the face of expected changes in rainfall combined with the predicted effects of dam construction. Data from the Inner Niger Delta in Mali were used to show that fishers were highly sensitive to past and recent variations in the hydro-climatic conditions. Moreover, it appears their traditional livelihood strategies, although diversified, sophisticated and well suited to historical conditions, offer a limited set of options to adapt to increased environmental constraints. For fish-dependent households that have adopted a mixed set of activities through farming, the high seasonality and constraints characterizing both their main activities (fishing and farming) does not allow switching between activities. For those households that undertake seasonal fishing migrations, there is little opportunity to modify migration routes or find new settlements sites inside the delta because of the high population density in this area. In sum, although the adoption of diversified and spatially discrete patterns in livelihood activities is often presented as a strategy to reduce vulnerability, such a strategy does not appear sufficient to allow fishers of the delta to successfully face the increasing constraints associated with the changes in hydro-climatic conditions. In such a context, fishing communities will be driven towards more drastic strategies of adaptation and/or coping such as switching to new activities based on agricultural innovations or emigration from the delta. Both strategies present many hazards, particularly in the absence of supportive public policy.
In this paper, we address the question whether the technical efficiency of a fishing industry is affected by the determinants of ambient water quality of the aquatic ecosystem. Using zone-specific ...data from 1998 to 2007 for the Connecticut Long Island Sound lobster fishery and an approach combining a bootstrapping technique with data envelopment analysis, we obtained the DEA estimates of technical efficiency for each fishing zone. We then used the bootstrapped DEA results and censored quantile regression to assess the impact of the environmental variables on different efficiency percentiles. A key result indicates when environmental conditionals are favorable (high dissolved oxygen levels), efficiency is low, and when environmental conditionals are less favorable (high levels of nitrogen), efficiency is high. The results show that the intensity of significant impacts given the contextual variables may vary among high- and low-efficiency periods.
Abstract
In this paper, we analyze perceptions and determinants of households' participation in a randomized experiment on water quality testing and information in southern Ghana. Beneficiary ...households assessed the components of the intervention including its relevance and adequacy in improving understanding of water quality issues. Motivating and constraining factors to participation in the randomized experiment are also assessed. We also estimate the correlates of participation in the intervention. Social and economic benefits derived from the intervention based on perceptions are compared with impacts of the intervention using an instrumental variable approach. We found evidence that subjective analysis estimates of the effects of the intervention are higher than the objective analysis estimates. Households generally perceived the intervention to be relevant in improving their understanding of water quality issues. However, there are differing opinions based on random assignment into either child or adult treatment groups on most- and least-liked attributes of the intervention, and also motivating and constraining factors affecting participation in the intervention. The factors that statistically and significantly influenced participation in the intervention include educational attainment, ethnicity, religious denomination and marital status of the household heads, in addition to the location of residence.
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