Fisheries Management with People in Mind: Assessing and Managing Risk

Fisheries management need satisfy a balance of ecological and socioeconomic objectives. As these two components are inseparable in any fishery, management solutions need incorporate both. In this dissertation, I present three essays that highlight the importance of considering both biology and socioeconomics in natural resource management science, presenting risk assessment and risk management as pragmatic means to frame natural resource issues and formulate solutions that satisfy multiple and conflicting objectives. Chapter I, Global Fishery Development Patterns Are Driven by Profit but not Trophic Level , presents interpretation of global fishery development data in light of the drivers of fishing impacts: profitability. Previous analyses of these data focusing on lagging indicators for fishing impacts generated the widely discussed hypotheses of fishing down or through food webs. When considering the motivations of resource users, the drivers of fishing impacts, I found no support for preferential fishing high in food webs. Instead a clear pattern emerges of preferentially developing taxa which present the best economic opportunities, regardless of position in the food web. In Chapter II, Quantitative Measures to Assess Catch and Revenue Risks in Commercial Fisheries: Alaska Case Study, I present a novel application of risk measures borrowed from investment theory to assess catch and gross revenue risks in Alaskan fisheries. Risk measures provide a means of monitoring the state of uncertainty and unpredictability in fisheries, and provide metrics for evaluating management performance that are relevant to resource users. As well as providing baseline data with which to compare other fishery systems, I relate fishery attributes to risks in order to highlight inherent fishery characteristics that are correlated with high or low catch risks. Finally, in Chapter III, Risk Management for Fisheries, I present a comprehensive review of risk management strategies that are in use or applicable to fisheries management. Borrowing from a wide range of disciplines including agricultural economics, investment theory, and actuarial science, I present tools to avoid, transfer away, or control risks. Where applicable, empirical examples of risk management strategies are provided.