Optimal spatial management in a multiuse marine habitat: Balancing fisheries and tourism

Abstract

Marine fisheries are an important source of food supply and play an important economic role in many regions worldwide. However, due to aggressive fishing practices they are increasingly overexploited. Marine reserves have the potential to alleviate this problem and moreover, they also provide a physical area where an alternative economic activity can exist without being in conflict with fishing gear. Here we explore the idea of combining multiple economic activities in a marine ecosystem, namely: fishing and tourism. We use a model in which the fish population evolves according to a reaction-diffusion partial differential equation, and we consider the interactions between fishing and tourism. We use optimal control theory to find, depending on the model parameters, the optimal management strategy. The results show that, subject to certain conditions, it is possible to have two different revenue streams in the same habitat in contrast with the classical view of competing uses. We also corroborate that marine reserves emerge as the optimal strategy and that the presence of visitors in these areas generates larger profits than if only fishing was considered. Recommendations for Resource Managers • Several economic activities in the same marine ecosystem can be more profitable than single use habitats (e.g., fisheries), and appropriate management can have important consequences for conservation. • Marine reserves have the potential to solve the overexploitation problem in many fisheries, and they provide a physical area where tourism and fishing are not in direct spatial conflict. • Habitat economic and ecological features should be adequately examined when designing a spatial management strategy.