Inferring Behavior of Chinese Krill Fishing Vessel Using a Simple Walk Model

Abstract

Each type of fishery has its own characteristic behavior, and understanding this condition is an important part of developing and managing fishing operations comprehensively. Based on the random walk model, the relationship between distance and frequency distribution of adjacent fishing positions was analyzed by the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) Subareas 48.1, 48.2, and 48.3. The frequency of distances between consecutive hauls demonstrated a heavy-tailed distribution, which could be used to estimate the value of parameter μ in the power function F(l) ∼ l−μ of a random walk model to determine the type of random walk patterns that characterize Chinese krill fishery. Results indicated that the fishing pattern of the Chinese krill fishery is consistent with the Levy random walk model, with which the step-length is applied to analyze the walking pattern. When a defined walk in a space of dimension is greater than one, the steps made are in isotropic random directions. Furthermore, a strong and positive correlation between fishing behavior (using the parameter μ as an indicator) and catch per unit effort of the Chinese krill fishery was observed.