Researchers Making 'Bottom Up' Assessment of Ocean Fisheries

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of University of Maine researchers led by marine scientist James Wilson is studying the relationship among competition, regulation and conservation in the fishing industry.

The research is integrating cutting-edge computer modeling, and fishermen’s and scientists’ knowledge of three very different fisheries — lobster, sea urchins and groundfish.

The purpose is to develop a rigorous bottom-up, rather than the usual top-down, understanding of the conservation problem. The project is funded by an approximately $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Researchers are looking at the way competition and cooperation among fishermen lead to private incentives and informal social arrangements that are — or aren’t — consistent with conservation of the resource.

These informal arrangements and incentives are important because they help explain how private interests reinforce or impair ongoing resource management and, consequently, the sustainability of coupled human and natural systems.

The broad hypothesis behind the research is that fishermen’s incentives, and the informal social structure that emerges from competitive and cooperative interactions, reflect the biological and physical circumstances of the species being fished.

Provided by University of Maine