Optimisation of economic performance and stock resilience in marine capture fisheries

Abstract

Overfishing and environmental factors, such as climate change, pose critical threats to marine fisheries worldwide by reducing net economic returns and stock resilience. These threats increase the risk that Sustainable Development Goal #14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development) will not be achieved by 2030. In response to these global livelihood and sustainability challenges, we developed an analytical framework calibrated to an actual fishery in the Torres Strait (Australia) to evaluate harvest control rules in relation to both economic objectives and stock resilience, as measured by robustness and recovery time. Our results showed that the Dynamic Maximum Economic Yield harvest control rule for this fishery generated both a larger expected net economic surplus and greater resilience than alternative and widely used Maximum Sustained Yield harvest control rules. Our analytical framework could be applied in other fisheries where data are available and offers the possibility of improved economic performance and resilience of marine capture fisheries.