Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council
of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
 for the Degree of Doctor of Philsosphy


 A BIO-ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE
 GULF OF MEXICO COMMERCIAL REEF FISH FISHERY

 By

 Timothy Gordon Taylor

 December, 1980

Chairman: Frederick J. Prochaska
Major Department: Food and Resource Economics

 Commercial reef fish landings (primarily grouper and red snapper)

from the Gulf of Mexico have declined fairly consistently since the mid-

sixties while the number of reef fish vessels has increased in all

coastal states except Louisiana. Declining catch per unit of effort has

caused concern in the industry. The main objective of this dissertation

was to construct an aggregate econometric model of the commercial sector

of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery and estimate maximum economic

yield. The basic theoretical model developed was a multi-sector model

with variable production prices and pecuniary externalities. Each

state participating in the fishery constituted a single sector. An

alternative methodology for obtaining equilibrium catch functions was

developed and utilized.

 Stochastic processes were identified and incorporated into the

residual components of the estimated catch equations to account for the

unobservable resource stock effects. Derived equilibrium catch func-

tions were obtained by taking the limit of the catch equations over

time, with fishing effort held constant. A non-linear optimization

model for the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery was constructed through


xi