Strategic dynamics interaction: The case of Barents Sea fisheries
This paper develops a bioeconomic model for two Barents Sea fisheries that attempts to capture the predator-prey relationships between cod and capelin, the two main species in the habitat. The aim is to analyse joint (cooperative) versus separate (non-cooperative) management of this predator-prey system with a view to isolating the efficiency loss due to separate management. Using a game theoretic framework and a multicohort age structured biomodel, we compute joint and separate management equilibrium outcomes of the model, and investigate the effects of changes in economic parameters on the computed results. In this way, we explore the economic consequences of the predator-prey relationships between cod and capelin, and the externalities due to non-cooperation. Results of the study tend to suggest that (i) under current market conditions it is economically optimal to exploit both species (rather than just one of them) under joint management, (ii) in comparison with the separate management outcome, a severe reduction of the capelin fishery is called for under joint management, and (iii) the loss in discounted economic rent resulting from the externalities due to the natural interactions between the species is significant, reaching up to almost a quarter of what is achievable under separate management.
