A simulation framework for evaluating fisheries management decisions using environmental information

Abstract

Skagen, D. W., Skern-Mauritzen, M., Dankel, D., Enberg, K., Kjesbu, O. S., and Nash, R. D. M. 2013. A simulation framework for evaluating fisheries management decisions using environmental information. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70: 743-754.The population dynamics of marine fish stocks are influenced by both physical and biological conditions. Yet, such environmental impacts on stock dynamics, and hence stock production, are rarely included in applied fisheries management. To test the utility of taking ecosystem information into account in management decisions requires efficient tools. We propose a simulation framework for evaluating fisheries management schemes that use environmental information as part of the decision basis. A key feature is to link environmental signals to parameters in functions that define the population dynamics. This allows a direct incorporation of environmental drivers into models of population dynamic processes and emphasizes the need for a quantitative understanding of the influence of environmental drivers on such processes. The utility of the simulation framework is demonstrated through a worked example with different management scenarios, where decisions to increase or decrease the exploitation rely on environmental indicators only, or also on information on stock abundance. In this example, a management that was based on indicators only, without updated measures of the state of the stock itself, failed to respond adequately to changes in stock productivity. © 2013 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.