Applying game theory to analyze the influence of biological characteristics on fishers’ cooperation in fisheries co-management

Abstract

Abstract The concept of mixed strategies from game theory is combined with basic economic concepts and a biomass dynamics model to capture important aspects of a fishery cooperative system. The concept of discounting, which is assumed to be a function of the intrinsic growth rate of the fish stock, is applied to mimic the fishers’ tendency to cooperate. Profits from fishing, discounted by the tendency to cooperate, are specified for each fisher under various circumstances and viewed as a two by two matrix game, with two players and two strategies (cooperative and non-cooperative). The payoffs in the matrix determine the equilibrium outcome for the game. The results indicate that the biological parameters, intrinsic growth rate and stock size, can have important influence on the fishers’ cooperation.