Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

Many of the world‟s fish stocks are considered to be in need of rebuilding. In response, global agreements, including UNCLOS, have sought to adopt some (optimal) level of fish biomass, usually the level associated with the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). While establishing a sustainable level of harvest is goal with intuitive appeal, the pursuit of MSY ignores many relevant economic and social factors that are critical to the sustainability of a fishery.

This paper first discusses the important distinction between rebuilding stocks and rebuilding fisheries and then discusses the use of bioeconomic modelling for developing rebuilding strategies. To facilitate this discussion, we briefly summarize the theory of bioeconomic modelling, including a description of what constitutes a bioeconomic model and why it should be considered for use in management (particularly for managing a fishery during rebuilding). Next, we discuss the role of bioeconomic modelling within a management strategy evaluation (MSE) framework. Following the description of these tools, we examine the use of bioeconomic models to address several five commonly held paradigms regarding rebuilding that are tantamount to fallacies. The paper concludes with the presentation of a variety of case studies that illustrate how bioeconomic models have been used to inform the management process worldwide. Lastly, practical information on the use of bioeconomic models in developing fisheries policy is summarized