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- Title
A management strategy evaluation of the commercial sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska1.
- Authors
Cunningham, Curry J.; Anderson, Christopher M.; Wang, Jocelyn Yun-Ling; Link, Michael; Hilborn, Ray
- Abstract
Bristol Bay, Alaska, is home to the largest sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fishery in the world, harvesting an average of 25 million fish with an ex-vessel value exceeding US$100 million annually. Daily fishing effort is adaptively managed to achieve stock-specific escapement goals. Traditional methods for defining these goals relied on stock–recruitment analysis; however, this approach often ignores three fundamental sources of uncertainty: estimation error, implementation uncertainty, and time-varying recruitment dynamics. To compare escapement goal alternatives, we conducted a management strategy evaluation that simulated time-varying recruitment across production regimes and replicated the daily in-season management process. Results indicate (i) implementation uncertainty can be reasonably approximated with simple rules reflecting fishery managers' daily decision process; (ii) despite implementation uncertainty, escapement goals are likely to be realized or exceeded, on average; and (iii) management strategies targeting escapement levels estimated by traditional methods to produce maximum sustainable yield may result in lower catch and greater variability in fishing opportunity compared with a strategy with defining high and low escapement goals that are targeted depending on assessed run size, which may maximize future catch while reducing the frequency of extremely low harvests.
- Subjects
ALASKA; SOCKEYE salmon; SHELLFISH fisheries; FISHERY management; FISHERIES; DECISION making; BAYS
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, 2019, Vol 76, Issue 9, p1669
- ISSN
0706-652X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1139/cjfas-2018-0133