Fishing on cold water coral reefs : A bioeconomic model of habitat-fishery connections

Abstract

This paper applies a bioeconomic model in order to study different interactions between a harvested renewable resource and a non-renewable resource without commercial value that is negatively affected by the harvesting activity. This enables the analysis of for instance cold water coral habitats and their importance to commercial fish species. The fish is harvested either in a manner that does not damage coral, such as stationary gear, or in a destructive fashion, such as bottom trawling. We find that when coral is a preferred or essential habitat, the optimal steady-state fish stock is no longer independent of the habitat level, i.e. optimum optimorum values determine the optimal stationary gear harvest rate and how much habitat should optimally be preserved. Such optimum optimorum values will vary according to the type of habitat-fishery connection, and some bottom trawling may be optimal for some periods of time. Our findings extend upon the underlying assumption of a constant habitat quality of bioeconomic models when destructive fishing methods are involved and a habitat-fishery connection exists.