Viability of Transboundary Fisheries and International Quota Sharing

This paper examines the viability of the management of a transboundary resource, the Bay of Biscay anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus L.). A deterministic model is used to simulate the anchovy dynamics, with the fish stock consisting of two age groups, “young" and “old", while recruitment follows a Beverton Holt pattern. Two countries, France and Spain, harvest the resource, with two different types of gear, the purse seiner for Spain and the pelagic trawler for France. These technologies impact the different age-groups of anchovy at differing rates. A regulatory agency defines an annual fishing quota and its allocation between the two countries, with the aim of sustainability in the overall allocation design. A set of constraints is defined to describe the sustainability of the system which encompasses the economic, ecological and social aspects of the fishery. The optimal harvest share between the two countries is found and a number of scenarios are then tested in relation to their ability to remain within the set of\ud constraints, or viability kernel. Other scenarios, including the historical trajectory, the optimal harvest share trajectory and the minimum time of crisis trajectory, are examined