Multiobjective model of the Pacific whiting fishery in the United States

Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) is commercially
and ecologically one of the most important fishery resources
in the Pacific coast of the United States. The fishery
is currently going through a period of rapid and profound
transformation that could cause a substantial redistribution
of benefits among domestic users. Benefits from the
Pacific whiting fishery consist of conflicting biological,
social, economic and regional objectives. A major management
issue is the problem of resource allocation between
the domestic offshore and shore-based fleets.
Economic analysis of fishery policy based on the
single objective of maximizing present value of net revenues
(PVNR) fails to realistically confront the Pacific
whiting fishery management problem. This work proposes the
use of the less restrictive concept of Pareto optimality as
a criterion for efficiency in the fishery.
The main objective of this dissertation is to develop
a multiobjective bioeconomic policy model of the Pacific
whiting fishery in the United States. The purpose of the
model is to analyze the implications (trade-offs) of resource
allocation alternatives on the level of three policy
objectives PVNR, production, and female spawning biomass.
Pareto optimal solutions for the three policy objectives
were generated under various specifications of the model by
means of generating techniques. Three policy instruments
were considered: harvest quotas, fleet/processing capacity
limits, and allocation between the shore-based and offshore
fisheries. Results were presented in the form of trade-off
curves.
The analysis suggests that policy objectives in the
case of Pacific whiting are non-complementary. Instead of
a unique "optimal" policy solution the Pacific whiting
fishery policy problem possesses an infinite number of
[Pareto] "optimal" policy solutions. The principal characteristic
of Pareto optimal solutions is that in moving from
one to another, the objectives must be traded-off among
each other. In spite of the uncertainties regarding the
dynamics of the Pacific whiting fishery, the preliminary
nature of the data and the simplistic specification of the
model, the analysis in this work demonstrates the potential
benefits of vector optimization for fishery policy development
and analysis. / Graduation date: 1993

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35741
Date10 August 1992
CreatorsEnr��quez Andrade, Roberto R.
ContributorsSylvia, Gilbert
Source SetsOregon State University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation

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