Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The role of discounting and dynamics in determining the economic efficiency of time-area closures for managing fishery bycatch

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Time-area closures are commonly used to manage fisheries bycatch and involve temporarily closing an area of the ocean to particular fishing gears. We examine conditions in which implementing a time-area closure would increase the economic value of fisheries, focusing on a case study application in the Gulf of Mexico. Pelagic longline fishermen catch the highly valued Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Scombridae) on their Gulf of Mexico spawning grounds while fishing for Atlantic yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). We analyze a multispecies, multifishery bioeconomic model that includes information on migratory patterns from electronic tagged bluefin tuna. We use dynamic optimization to identify management strategies that would maximize the net present value of tuna fisheries, allowing for discounting of future benefits and costs relative to the present. If past fishing mortality rates continue in Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries, implementing a time-area closure in the Gulf of Mexico incurs economic costs. However, the net present value of the fisheries is increased by implementing a time-area closure as part of a broader commitment to rebuild the heavily depleted bluefin population, provided the discount rate and the costs of such a closure in forgone fishing opportunities are not too large. The increase in economic value offered by a time-area closure is small relative to the overall economic value of rebuilding itself and it may be economically optimal only to implement a closure once sufficient rebuilding has already taken place.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armsworth PR, Roughgarden JE (2001) An invitation to ecological economics. Trends Ecol Evol 16:229–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armsworth PR, Block BA, Eagle J, Roughgarden JE (ABER10) (2010) The economic efficiency of a time-area closure to protect spawning bluefin tuna. J Appl Ecol 47:36–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertignac M, Campbell HF, Hampton J, Hand AJ (2001) Maximizing resource rent from the Western and Central Pacific tuna fisheries. Marine Res Econ 15:151–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop RC, Samples KC (1980) Sport and commercial fishing conflicts—a theoretical analysis. J Environ Econ Manage 7:220–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorndal T, Brasao A (2006) The East Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries: stock collapse or recovery? Marine Res Econ 21:191–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Block BA, Dewar H, Blackwell SB, Williams TD, Prince ED, Farwell CJ, Boustany A, Teo SLH, Seitz A, Walli A, Fudge D (2001) Migratory movements, depth preferences, and thermal biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Science 293:1310–1314

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Block BA, Teo SLH, Walli A, Boustany A, Stokesbury MJW, Farwell CJ, Weng KC, Dewar H, Williams TD (2005) Electronic tagging and population structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Nature 434:1121–1127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brown GM, Roughgarden J (1997) A metapopulation model with private property and a common pool. Ecol Econ 22:65–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll MT, Anderson JL, Martinez-Garmendia J (2001) Pricing U.S. North Atlantic bluefin tuna and implications for management. Agribusiness 17:243–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark CW (1990) Mathematical Bioeconomics: the Optimal Management of Renewable Resources, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook BA, McCaw RL (1996) Sport and commercial fishing allocations for Atlantic salmon fisheries of the Miramichi River. Can J Agric Econ 44:165–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costello C, Polasky S (2008) Optimal harvesting of stochastic spatial resources. J Environ Econ Manage 56:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crowder LB, Osherenko G, Young OR, Airame S, Norse EA, Baron N, Day JC, Douvere F, Ehler CN, Halpern BS, Langdon SJ, McLeod KL, Ogden JC, Peach RE, Rosenberg AA, Wilson JA (2006) Resolving mismatches in U.S. ocean governance. Science 313:617–618

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis R, Hicks RL (2000) The cost of sea turtle preservation: the case of Hawaii’s pelagic longliners. Amer J Ag Econ 82:1191–1197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dichmont CM, Pascoe S, Kompas T, Punt AE, Deng R (2010) On implementing maximum economic yield in commercial fisheries. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:16–21

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes L, Day J, Lewis A, Slegers S, Kerrigan B, Breen D, Cameron D, Jago B, Hall J, Lowe D, Innes J, Tanzer J, Chadwick V, Thompson L, Gorman K, Simmons M, Barnett B, Sampson K, De’ath G, Mapstone B, Marsh H, Possingham H, Ball I, Ward T, Dobbs K, Aumend J, Slater D, Stapleton K (2005) Establishing representative no-take areas in the Great Barrier Reef: large-scale implementation of theory on marine protected areas. Conserv Biol 19:1733–1744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fromentin JM, Powers JE (2005) Atlantic bluefin tuna: population dynamics, ecology, fisheries and management. Fish Fish 6:281–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Game ET, Grantham HS, Hobday AJ, Pressey RL, Lombard AT, Beckley LE, Gjerde K, Bustamante R, Possingham HP, Richardson AJ (2009) Pelagic protected areas: the missing dimension in ocean conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 24:360–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodyear CP (1999) An analysis of the possible utility of time-area closures to minimize billfish bycatch by US pelagic longlines. Fish Bull US 97:243–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Goulder LH, Stavins RN (2002) An eye on the future: discounting. Nature 419:673–674

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grantham HS, Petersen SL, Possingham HP (2008) Reducing bycatch in the South African pelagic longline fishery: the utility of different approaches to fisheries closures. Endanger Species Res 5:291–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halpern BS, McLeod KL, Rosenberg AA, Crowder LB (2008) Managing for cumulative impacts in ecosystem-based management through ocean zoning. Ocean Coast Manag 51:203–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiddink JG, Hutton T, Jennings S, Kaiser MJ (2006) Predicting the effects of area closures and fishing effort restrictions on the production, biomass, and species richness of benthic invertebrate communities. ICES J Mar Sci 63:822–830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobday AJ, Hartmann K (2006) Near real-time spatial management based on habitat predictions for a longline bycatch species. Fisheries Manag Ecol 13:365–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland DS, Brazee RJ (1996) Marine reserves for fisheries management. Mar Res Econ 11:157–177

    Google Scholar 

  • International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) (2009a) Report of the 2008 ICCAT bluefin stock assessment session. ICCAT Collective Volume of Scientific Papers 64:1–352

    Google Scholar 

  • International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) (2009b) Report of the 2008 ICCAT yellowfin and skipjack stock assessments meeting. ICCAT Collective Volume of Scientific Papers 64:669–927

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang KL, Grimes CB, Shaw RF (1994) Variations in the age and growth of yellowfin tuna larvae, Thunnus albacares, collected about the Mississippi River plume. Environ Biol Fisches 39:259–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larkin SL, Adams CM, Lee DJ (2000) Reported trip costs, gross revenues, and net returns for U.S. Atlantic pelagic longlining vessels. Mar Fish Rev 62:49–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Ludwig D (1980) Harvesting strategies for a randomly fluctuating population. J Conseil Int Explor Mer 39:168–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Garmendia J, Anderson JL (2005) Conservation, markets, and fisheries policy: the North Atlantic bluefin tuna and the Japanese sashimi market. Agribusiness 21:17–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuda H, Abrams PA (2006) Maximal yields from multispecies fisheries systems: rules for systems with multiple trophic levels. Ecol Appl 16:225–237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mesterton-Gibbons M (1996) A technique for finding optimal two-species harvesting policies. Ecol Model 92:235–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murawski SA, Finn JT (1986) Optimal effort allocation among competing mixed-species fisheries, subject to fishing mortality constraints. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:90–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (2006) Final consolidated Atlantic highly migratory species fishery management plan. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, Silver Spring, MD

  • National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (2009) Annual report of the United States of America to ICCAT. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, Silver Spring, MD

  • Neubert MG, Herrera GE (2008) Triple benefits from spatial resource management. Theor Ecol 1:5–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palumbi, SR (2004) Marine reserves and ocean neighbourhoods: the spatial scale of marine populations and their management. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 29:31–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pintassilgo P, Costa Duarte C (2002) Optimal management of the Northern Atlantic bluefin tuna. Marine Res Econ 17:47–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Porch CE (2005) The sustainability of western Atlantic bluefin tuna: a warm-blooded fish in a hot-blooded fishery. Bull Mar Sci 76:363–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Power JH, May LN Jr. (1991) Satellite observed sea-surface temperatures and yellowfin tuna catch and effort in the Gulf of Mexico. Fish Bull US 89:429–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Powers JE, Abeare SM (2009) Fishing effort redistribution in response to area closures. Fish Res 99:216–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safina C (1998) Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World’s Coasts and Beneath the Seas. Henry Holt, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Safina C, Klinger DH (2008) Collapse of bluefin tuna in the Western Atlantic. Conserv Biol 22:243–246

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchirico JN, Wilen JE (2001) A bioeconomic model of marine reserve creation. J Environ Econ Manage 42:257–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchirico JN, Malvadkar U, Hastings A, Wilen JE (2006) When are no-take zones an economically optimal fishery management strategy? Ecol Appl 16:1643–1659

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sissenwine MP, Mace PM, Powers JE, Scott GP (1998) A commentary on Western Atlantic bluefin tuna assessments. Trans Am Fish Soc 127:838–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MD, Wilen JE (2003) Economic impacts of marine reserves: the importance of spatial behavior. J Environ Econ Manage 46:183–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MD, Lynham J, Sanchirico JN, Wilson JA (2010) Political economy of marine reserves: understanding the role of opportunity costs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.0907365107

  • Teo SLH, Block BA (2010) Comparative influence of ocean conditions on yellowfin and Atlantic bluefin tuna catch from longlines in the Gulf of Mexico. PLoS ONE 5(5):e10756. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo SLH, Boustany A, Dewar H, Stokesbury MJW, Weng KC, Beemer S, Seitz AC, Farwell CJ, Prince ED, Block BA (2007a) Annual migrations, diving behavior, and thermal biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, on their Gulf of Mexico breeding grounds. Mar Biol 151:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo SLH, Boustany AM, Block BA (2007b) Oceanographic preferences of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, on their Gulf of Mexico breeding grounds. Mar Biol 152:1105–1119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United States District Court for the District of Columbia (USDC DC) (2008) Blue Ocean Institute v. Gutierrez, 585 F. Supp. 2d 36 (DDC 2008)

  • Walli A, Teo SLH, Boustany A, Farwell CJ, Williams T, Dewar H, Prince E, Block BA (2009) Seasonal movements, aggregations and diving behavior of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) revealed with archival tags. PLoS ONE 4(7):e6151. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006151

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank three anonymous referees for useful suggestions and A. Boustany, G. Daily, P. Ehrlich, L. Goulder, S. Miller and S. Teo for helpful discussions. The work was funded by a US–UK Fulbright scholarship to PRA, The Lenfest Ocean Program, and by grants from NOAA and the Packard Foundation to BAB.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Paul R. Armsworth

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Paul R. Armsworth

  2. Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA

    Barbara A. Block

  3. School of Law, University of South Carolina, 701 Main Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Josh Eagle

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 4305, USA

    Joan E. Roughgarden

Authors
  1. Paul R. Armsworth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Barbara A. Block
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Josh Eagle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Joan E. Roughgarden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul R. Armsworth.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

(PDF 102 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Armsworth, P.R., Block, B.A., Eagle, J. et al. The role of discounting and dynamics in determining the economic efficiency of time-area closures for managing fishery bycatch. Theor Ecol 4, 513–526 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-010-0093-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-010-0093-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation