Measuring the Technical Efficiency of Purse Seine in Tropical Small-scale Fisheries in Indonesia

In response to external changes, fishermen usually change their fishing strategy and increase their input factors. This effort sometimes causes an excess of input factors and inefficiency in fishing operations. To determine both the impacts on fishing operations, technical efficiency is used. Small-scale fisheries play a significant role in the global fisheries industry; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the excess of input factors and profligacy in fishing operations in small-scale fisheries in tropical areas. Consequently, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to calculate the technical efficiency of purse seine fisheries in Rembang, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The objectives of this study were to measure 1) technical efficiency and 2) variable input utilisation (VIU) of purse seines in the Java Sea. The results of this study showed that most purse seines in Rembang had an excess of input factors and were inefficient in fishing operations. In order to manage purse seine fisheries in Rembang, it is proposed that reducing certain input factors, for instance the length of fishing trips (14.3%), supplies (12.5%) and ice (9.2%) will be advantageous and achieve positive results.