Accumulated marine pollution and fishery dynamics

Abstract

We analyze the possible impacts of pollution on a fishery by means of a dynamical systems theory approach. The proposed model presupposes that activities stimulating economic growth also cause higher emissions that remediate or accumulate in the oceans. The density of pollution is assumed to affect the fishery negatively by reducing biological growth potential and decreasing marginal willingness to pay for the fish in the market. Additionally, economic growth increases the general income and may also increase the demand for fish. We show that the modelling framework permits a unique stable equilibrium state in the regime of moderate values of the emission-remediation ratio. We also investigate how the ecological and market impacts alter both the steady state and dynamics of an open access fishery.