Biology and economy equilibria in the coastal zone: modelling and scenario analysis as a rationalization tool for small-pelagics

Trabajo presentado en el Network of Experts for ReDeveloping Models of the European Marine Environment, celebrado en Bruselas el 22 y 23 de marzo de 2017.A coupled population dynamics and economic model is applied to the purse seine anchovy-fishery in the Gulf of Cádiz. The model simulates the population dynamics, landings and profits on a probabilistic frame. These simulations are used to assess the biological and economic consequences of an individual quota management framework enveloped by a fixed Total Allowable Catch, the present strategy used to manage this stock in the Spanish fishery. Our results accurately indicate that this strategy magnifies the biological and economic vulnerabilities associated with the exploitation of the stock, thus jeopardizing sustainability in both realms. Alternative scenarios, such as flexible strategies based on adaptation to environmental forcing, are explored. The results indicate that even a basic implementation of an adaptive management is more favorable than the rigid strategies in the necessary equilibrium between profits and sustainability at the implementation of the MSFD and other EU policiesPeer reviewe

Biological and economic vulnerabilities of fixed TACs in small pelagics: An analysis of the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in the Gulf of Cádiz

A coupled population dynamics and economic model is applied to the purse seine anchovy-fishery in the Gulf of Cádiz. The model simulates the population dynamics, landings and profits on a probabilistic frame. These simulations are used to assess the biological and economic consequences of an individual quota management framework enveloped by a fixed Total Allowable Catch (TAC), the present strategy used to manage this stock in the Spanish fishery. Our results accurately indicate that this strategy magnifies the biological and economic vulnerabilities associated with the exploitation of the stock, thus jeopardizing the sustainability of this fishery. Alternative strategies, such as an adaptive TAC, are explored. The results indicate that even a basic implementation of an adaptive TAC seems more favorable than the present strategy in the necessary equilibrium between profits and sustainability. This paper provides tools and an assessment that may also be useful for other small pelagic fisheries.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-KBBE-2013) under the grant agreement 613571/MAREFRAME project.Peer reviewe

Consequences of a future climatic scenario for the anchovy fishery in the Alboran Sea (SW Mediterranean): A modeling study

The Alboran basin is one of the most productive areas of the Mediterranean Sea and supports an anchovy fishery with a history of remarkably variable landings. Past and present anchovy recruitment levels are highly sensitive to changes in the strength and direction of the incoming jet of Atlantic waters, which modulate the hydrographic features of the basin. Here, we analyze plausible consequences for the anchovy fisheries in the region based on a projected physical scenario for the end of the century obtained using a coupled hydrological-biogeochemical model. Our model predicts a substantial increase in horizontal water velocity and a negligible change in the associated biological production, which likely indicates reductions in anchovy stock, catches and revenues. Alternative policies are analyzed here for the economic scenario that is expected to emerge under future conditions of oceanographic features, pelagic ecosystem dynamics and anchovy landings in the Alboran Sea. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.This work was funded by EU projects SESAME (FP6: 036949-2) and MedEX (CTM2008-04036-E/MAR and MARIN-ERA/MAR/0002/2008) and by the Spanish Science Program CMT2011-22580. D. Macías was supported by a JaeDOC Contract (#X0SC000087) of the Spanish Science and Technology Council (CSIC) and by a Grantholder Cat.30 position of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.Peer Reviewe

Applying Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques in the Management of Small-Scale Fisheries in Andalusia (Spain)

Fisheries management involves considering several biological, economic and political objectives. They are often contradictory. For this reason, it is almost impossible to reach them simultaneously. Andalusian regional government collaborates with the national government to establish fishing plans for local fisheries. The objectives of these plans verify the aforementioned statement. For instance, two contradictory objectives could be the employment preservation and the recovery of overexploited stocks. In this paper, various multi-objective programming (MOP) techniques have been applied to two fisheries: the striped venus (Chamellea gallina) fishery in the South-Atlantic Spanish region and the Strait of Gibraltar red bream (Pagellus bogaraveo) fishery of Spain. The obtained results show the usefulness of these methods for the design of fishery management policies and give evidence that each group with a vested interest in the fishery has its own hierarchy of objectives.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Goal Programming, AHP, Fisheries Management, Gulf of Cadiz, Conjoint Analysis, Economic Solutions to Customary, Aboriginal and Traditional Fishing Right

Integrating economics into fisheries science and advice : progress, needs, and future opportunities

While the science supporting fisheries management has generally been dominated by the natural sciences, there has been a growing recognition that managing fisheries essentially means managing economic systems. Indeed, over the past seven decades, economic ideas and insights have increasingly come to play a role in fisheries management and policy. As an illustration of this, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has been actively seeking to expand the scope of its scientific expertise beyond natural sciences [another inter-governmental marine science organization which has done this over the same period is the North Pacific Marine Science organization (PICES)]. In particular, the recently created ICES Working Group on Economics set out to review current work and key future needs relating to economic research and management advice on marine capture fisheries. This article presents the results of this review and addresses how economic research can be incorporated into the science of ICES to provide integrated perspectives on fisheries systems that can contribute to the provision of advice in support of policy development and management decision-making for sustainable uses of living marine resources.Peer reviewe