Assessing Technical and Economic Efﬁciency of the Artisanal Dredge Fleet in the Portuguese West Coast M.M. Oliveira, A.S. Camanho, and M.B. Gaspar Abstract The bivalve dredge ﬂeet is by far the most extensively studied ﬂeet among the Portuguese artisanal segment. It is considered one of the most important artisanal ﬁsheries, essentially due to the number of ﬁshermen and vessels involved and to the high volume and value of the catches. The present study aimed to explore the efﬁciency of the dredge ﬂeets that operated in the west coast of Portugal between 2006 and 2012. The methodology was based on the use of data envelopment analysis to assess vessels’ efﬁciency. The inputs considered included the number of days at sea, a biomass stock indicator, and the characteristics of the vessels (power, length and tonnage). The annual ﬁshing quota per vessel was also included in the model as a contextual factor. In the technical efﬁciency analysis, the outputs were deﬁned by the weight of captures for three different bivalve species. Using data on the prices of each species in the wholesale market, revenue efﬁciency was also estimated to complement the technical efﬁciency analysis. The results allowed to gain insights concerning the performance of both Northwest and Southwest ﬂeets, considering both technical and economic aspects of the ﬁshery. It was also possible to identify the benchmark vessels, whose practices should be followed by the other vessels of the ﬂeet. M.M. Oliveira () Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera I.P./IPMA, Avenida 5 de Outubro, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal Centro de Investigação Operacional, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Bloco C6, Piso 4, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal e-mail: moliveira@ipma.pt A.S. Camanho Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465 Porto, Portugal e-mail: acamanho@fe.up.pt M.B. Gaspar Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera I.P./IPMA, Avenida 5 de Outubro, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal Centro de Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal e-mail: mbgaspar@ipma.pt © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 J.P. Almeida et al. (eds.), Operational Research, CIM Series in Mathematical Sciences 4, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20328-7_18 311