An Economic analysis and simulation design of the black sea type of purse seine vessels engaged in anchovoy fishing

Fishing is considered an important sector in the Black Sea. Main fishing potential in the Black Sea is based on anchovy fishing and purse seine type vessels used for anchovy fishing. Significant increments has taken place, especially in recent years, in both the number and the size of the fishing vessels. It has been found worthy investigating the economics of such large scale of investments on the fishing vessels. A 30 m long fishing vessel so called standard design, has been chosen to be the representative of traditional fishing vessels under investigation. The SLAM II simulation software has been used to model anchovy fishing. The variation effects of such design parameters as engine power, length, catch rate, and the number of fishing days have been examined by using net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) methods as the economic criteria. It is found that only for engine power there is an optimum in the neighbourhood of 300 HP and the critical value for engine power is of 650 HP. For the length range of 20 to 40 m., the critical length is found to be 32 m. For the catch rate range of 36 - 45 tons/shot, the critical catch rate is found to be 43 tons/shot. For the number of fishing days, the critical value is 95 days per year. Key Words: Design, Anchovy, Purse seine, Fishing vessel, SLAM II, Simulation, Net present value, Internal rate of return. VI