Fisheries Instrument Choice under Uncertainty

Abstract

This paper uses data from an actual fishery to construct a tractable, dynamic model to compare expected profit and its variance, optimal stock size, optimal harvest rate, and optimal fishing effort under different management regimes under uncertainty. The results provide a comparison of instrument choice between a total harvest control and a total effort control under uncertainty, an original method to evaluate the tradeoffs between profits and other criteria in a dynamic context, and insights regarding the relative merits of catch and effort controls in fisheries management.