Access Management Using Real Time Catch Data in the Northern Prawn Fishery: An Application of Stochastic Control Rules
BY Stephen Beare and Rosalyn BellABSTRACT
Alternative management instruments, such as tradeable quota schemes, have not been considered workable given the large and unpredictable changes in stocks that occur from season to season. However, there have been technical improvements in management operations. The position of individual vessels in the fleet is monitored in real time and the collection of real time catch data may be possible at a reasonably low cost. The potential benefits of using real time catch data to determine closure times for the fishery are estimated in this study.
A biological model of the Tiger Prawn fishery has been embedded in a stochastic optimal control framework. There are two species of Tiger Prawns that have different seasonal and geographic patterns of abundance. The primary source of uncertainty is the linkage between the surviving populations from one season and the number of recruits in the following season. The model is used to determine optimal opening and closing rules for the fishery given current and past levels of catch and effort. The rules allow for multiple opening and closing dates. The control model is solved using a genetic algorithm to search for the optimal rule set.
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