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Spare the Young Fish: Optimal Harvesting Policies for North-East Arctic Cod

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Abstract

The North-East Arctic cod (Gadus morhua) fishery, as most other commercial fisheries, is wasting the larger part of its potential. Examining a detailed multi-cohort, multi-gear bioeconomic model, we show that the cause is rather a too small mesh size than excessive effort. Although internationally and nationally managed by quota allocations and regulations, the current exploitation pattern implies that essentially the wrong fish are targeted. Catching older and heavier fish could double the fishery’s Net-Present-Value. This increases harvested biomass while it reduces the number of fish removed from the ocean, highlighting the importance of age- and gear-specific modeling. Moreover, optimal harvesting policies would also lead to a much more robust and abundant cod stock.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Florian K. Diekert, Dag Ø. Hjermann & Nils Christian Stenseth

  2. Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, Gaustadalléen 21, 0349, Oslo, Norway

    Eric Nævdal

Authors
  1. Florian K. Diekert
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  2. Dag Ø. Hjermann
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  3. Eric Nævdal
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  4. Nils Christian Stenseth
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Correspondence to Florian K. Diekert.

Additional information

We thank Anne Maria Eikeset, Quentin Grafton, Martin Smith, Anders Skonhoft, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and discussion. All remaining errors are our own. Florian K. Diekert gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Hydro obtained through CEES.

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Diekert, F.K., Hjermann, D.Ø., Nævdal, E. et al. Spare the Young Fish: Optimal Harvesting Policies for North-East Arctic Cod. Environ Resource Econ 47, 455–475 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-010-9388-z

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