Risk versus economic performance in a mixed fishery

Type Article
Date 2014-03
Language English
Author(s) Gourguet SophieORCID1, 2, Thebaud OlivierORCID1, Dichmont C.1, Jennings S.4, Little L. R.3, Pascoe S.1, Deng R. A.1, Doyen L.2
Affiliation(s) 1 : CSIRO, Marine & Atmospher Res, Dutton Pk, Qld 4102, Australia.
2 : CNRS MNHN, CERSP UMR 7204, F-75005 Paris, France.
3 : CSIRO Marine & Atmospher Res, Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia.
4 : Univ Tasmania, Sch Econ & Finance, Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia.
Source Ecological Economics (0921-8009) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2014-03 , Vol. 99 , P. 110-120
DOI 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.01.013
WOS© Times Cited 25
Keyword(s) Bio-economic modelling, Uncertainty, Risk-performance trade-offs, Fishing strategy, Northern Prawn Fishery
Abstract Balancing bio-economic risks and high profit expectations is often a major concern in fisheries management. We examine this trade-off in the context of the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF). The fishery derives its revenue from different prawn species with different dynamics and recruitment processes. A multi-species bio-economic and stochastic model is used to examine the trade-offs between mean profitability of the fishery and its variance, under a range of economic scenarios, fishing capacities and distributions of fishing effort across the various sub-fisheries that comprise the NPF. Simulation results show that the current fishing strategy diversifying catch across sub-components of the fishery entails a compromise between expected performance and risk. Furthermore, given the current economic conditions, increases in fleet size would improve the expected economic performance of the fishery, but at the cost of increased variability of this performance.
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