Bioeconomic study of a two agent fishery with consideration on the valuation of goods and services by cold-water corals

Abstract

This thesis makes four contributions on the economic analysis of fisheries in cold-water corals contained waters.

The first contribution is the proposal of theoretical framework on the links among cold-water corals, fauna fish species, fisheries, and public. The interactions among these four parts are illustrated in the framework.

The second contribution is the identification and classification of goods and services by cold-water corals. The work of identification and classification helps greatly on the understanding of importance of cold-water corals to the public.

The third contribution is the bioeconomic models on the interactions among the four parties. Two types of coral-fish connections are assumed, i.e. corals are preferred habitat to fauna fish species, or corals are essential habitat. Our modeling results reveal the existence of optimum optimorum values of the public.

The last contribution is the steady-state analysis of both new models and original models. From the state space diagrams, we find that the optimal equilibriums and the movements can be readily identified. Through comparison of the new models and the original models, we find two theorems. The first theorem is that the optimal coral stock level in the new model is always increased, while the fish stock level is always decreased. The second theorem is that in the new model, the optimum optimorum PVNB (Present Value of Net Benefit) for the all parties is always increased, while the optimum optimorum PVNB for the fishery is always decreased.

Our research work reveals the importance of identifying goods and services by marine habitat, and linking them into fishery management. Our findings highlight the improvement of social benefits by taking goods and services values into economic consideration of habitat management.