Do Species Interactions and Stochasticity Matter to Optimal Management of Multispecies Fisheries?

Abstract

The multispecies fisheries management looks at a bigger picture in addressing the long-term consequences of present decisions. This implies an ecosystem management that includes a number of species and their physical, biological and economic interactions. These interactions make the growth of resources stochastic and increase complexity in understanding stock dynamics and optimal catch for such a stochastic and multiple stocks´ system. To address the issue of identifying optimal catch of stochastically growing multi stocks, we have formulated and applied a time-continuous stochastic model. The model contributes to multispecies bioeconomic management of marine ecosystems. An application of model in a predator-prey relationship in Barent Sea revealed that the optimal catch for stochastically growing stocks in a multispecies interaction model is different from the deterministic model.