Conservation and Optimum Utilization of Southern Bluefin Tuna

Research PaperThe paper predicts the outcomes of alternative management scenarios for the Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) fishery over the next twenty years. Two criteria are used to characterize outcomes: economic efficiency as measured by the present value of fishery rent generated; and conservation as measured by the predicted size of the SBT stock in twenty years’ time. A bioeconomic model incorporating a game theoretic framework is used to assess the effects of alternative management scenarios representing varying degrees of cooperation amongst the six countries currently harvesting SBT. The results suggest that while there are substantial gains from cooperation, there do not appear to be dire consequences if cooperation is not achieved. However this conclusion needs to be tested for a wider range of biological parameter sets