“Bioeconomies of scope and the discard problem in Multiple-species fisheries”

This case study was very important to look at because it not only looked at what fish should go into fisheries but also incentives to prevent fishermen from throwing bycatch overboard. In the U.S. it is estimated that nearly 22% of what is caught is bycatch. The article talks about biological decline and the irreparable damage we are doing to these ecosystems by taking away species that play vital roles in their ecosystems. They discuss the importance of using the design of an ecosystem in fisheries, with many interactions between different species. One example of a design for fisheries was to use a prey and predator pair of fish in fisheries. This way when prey populations increase so does the population of the predator colony. This will help insure that fish populations stay high and create a more natural environment for the fish. The second aspect of this article was how to stop fishermen from wasting fish and make it more beneficial for them to keep bycatch. The original approach is to have an observer on board the boats to watch over what is being thrown out. Another strategy is the sole owner harvest policy. I didn’t completely understand how this worked but it is meant to eliminate fisherman seeing the extra species they catch as undesirable. Having this plan in place would stop overfishing because people would be satisfied with the amount of fish caught.

Singh, Rajesh, and Quinn Weninger. “Bioeconomies of Scope and the Discard Problem in Multiple-Species Fisheries.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 58, no. 1, 2009, pp. 72–92., doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2008.08.005.