A Multi-Criteria Non-Linear Optimization Model for the Control and Management of a Tropical Fishery

Abstract

One of the principal problems when dealing with fishery resource management is to estimate strategies that satisfy biological, economic and social objectives simultaneously. As a contribution to solving this problem in the Yucatan Shelf Octopus (Octopus may a) fishery, a multi-criteria non-linear optimization procedure was applied to a dynamic bioeconomic model of the fishery. The procedure coped simultaneously with non linearities and system stochasticity. The min-max optimization, iteratively minimized the difference between the manager's objectives and model output values for the bioeconomic variables in a Pareto-optimal way. Results showed that it was possible to achieve explicit managerial objectives under different scenarios, such as those that simulate the normal 1988 fishing season, the impact of natural phenomena (hurricane Gilbert) and the reaction to such phenomena. Implications of the results are discussed.fishery management, management objectives, multi-criteria nonlinear optimization, tropical fishery, octopus, yucatan, optimal control, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,