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Production Technology and Technical Efficiency of Freshwater Capture Fisheries in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham and Battambang Provinces, Cambodia.
Thesis Abstract:
In this study, attempts were made to describe the production technology and to estimate the level of technical efficiency (TE) for middle-scale fishing (MSF) and family-scale fishing (FSF) in freshwater capture fisheries in Cambodia. It also identified who among the fishermen in both types of fishing were more aware of sustainable fisheries and management issues.
Two hundred seventy-seven households were interviewed using a prepared questionnaire to obtain household socioeconomic data in 1995. The sample household for MSF was 146 from Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham provinces, and 131 for FSF in Battambang province.
Production technology in both types of fishing differed in terms of fishing efforts such as gear, capacity of boat, number of labor and major operating cost. Variables with the strongest effect on fish catch were capacity of boat and cost of operation.
The marginal product of all inputs had a positive sign for both FSF and MSF groups. Decreasing returns to scale was observed for MSF while FSF exhibited increasing returns to scale.
This study used stochastic production frontier to examine the levels of TE of fishermen in both types of fishing. The results showed that MSF had relatively higher TE than FSF. In general, high TE coincided with high fish catch.
An analysis of the effects of different factors on TE showed that annual income had a significant effect on TE in MSF, but had an insignificant effect on TE in FSF. Other factors such as ethnic origin and education of the household heads had shown similar significant effects on TE in both types of fishing.
With regard to sustainability and management issues, the results showed a high degree of awareness among sample households, with MF households having a relatively higher degree of awareness than FSF households.
The study recommended some policies to improve the fishermen’s TE in freshwater capture fisheries of Cambodia.