Economists counting fish: modeling profit-maximizing behavior to improve stock assessments

Chen, Allen Y.; Monnahan, Cole C.; Hamel, Owen S.; Haynie, Alan C.

doi:10.1139/cjfas-2025-0150

i

Economists counting fish: modeling profit-maximizing behavior to improve stock assessments

2026
By Chen, Allen Y. ; Monnahan, Cole C. ; Hamel, Owen S. ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Personal Author:

Chen, Allen Y. ; Monnahan, Cole C. ; Hamel, Owen S. ; Haynie, Alan C.
NOAA Program & Office:

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; AFSC (Alaska Fisheries Science Center) ; NWFSC (Northwest Fisheries Science Center) ; OST (Office of Science and Technology)
Description:

Stock assessments are an integral part of contemporary fisheries management, estimating the health of wild fish populations and ensuring sustainable marine resource management. Fishery-independent data (e.g., scientific surveys) usually provide unbiased information not influenced by fisher targeting, although fishery-dependent data can be more widely available. One reason the use of fishery-dependent data in assessments is treated with care is that the data do not account for the spatial site selection and economic behavior of fishers. By understanding and explicitly modeling how fishers make tradeoffs, economic models can correct for selection if fishers systematically choose areas with greater expected catches or revenues. We develop and test an approach to correct abundance indices taking into account the sampling process of fishers in a simulation framework. Corrected indices can supplement fishery-independent surveys and improve the accuracy of spawning biomass estimates in some scenarios, but are unreliable in others. We demonstrate the potential for economic models to serve as a tool to improve certain stock assessments and the management based upon them.
Keywords:

Economics Fisheries Fish Stock Assessment Fish Stock Assessment CPUE Index Standardization Fishery-dependent Data Selection Bias
Source:

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 83: 1-17
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2025-0150
Format:

PDF
Document Type:

Journal Article
Rights Information:

Accepted Manuscript
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:b21405b43022ecdf731b1100d5663f0b8c5db32ef2b57d91999f7113d278f0bf6a9041f25a25a8e88f158942645f7aaf6b9b62a7462379f69c65d9703bcb0caa
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/73667/noaa_73667_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 400.12 KB ]

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