The use of year-round closed areas for the management of New England trawl fisheries
Abstract
Year-round closed areas have been proposed as a management tool for fisheries and have been implemented in a number of fisheries around the world. It has been suggested that for some fisheries, permanently closing part of the fishery may sustain or increase harvests. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim and little is known about how area closures should be designed. This dissertation uses bioeconomic modeling to explore how area closures of varied design will affect fisheries and fishers. The focus of study is on the use of area closures for the groundfish fisheries in New England. However, the methodologies and general results are applicable to other fisheries as well.^ A major focus of the research is the development of a fleet dynamics model. The motivation for studying fleet dynamics extends beyond its relevance to evaluating the impacts of area closures. Understanding fleet dynamics is critical to the management of many fisheries for which catch and effort for specific areas or species is not tightly controlled.^ The dissertation is composed of three manuscripts. The subject of the first two manuscripts is a model of fleet dynamics for New England trawl fisheries. Manuscript one provides a discussion on how the model is developed, specified and tested and used to predict the aggregate distribution of fishing effort between fisheries and areas. Manuscript two explores in more depth the development of the behavioral model on which the fleet dynamics model is based and presents tests of the validity of a number of hypotheses found in the literature about the behavior of fishers as individuals and in groups. The third manuscript presents the culmination of the research, the spatial, bioeconomic model of New England groundfish fisheries. The results from different versions of the model are presented and evaluated, and conclusions about the usefulness of area closures under varied conditions are drawn. We find that the location of reserves and the level and distribution of fishing effort are critical factors in designing reserves that are beneficial to the fishery. ^
Subject Area
Economics, Agricultural|Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Recommended Citation
Daniel Saffa Holland,
"The use of year-round closed areas for the management of New England trawl fisheries"
(1998).
Dissertations and Master's Theses (Campus Access).
Paper AAI9910773.
http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dissertations/AAI9910773