Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T06:57:11.548Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Game theory and the development of resource management policy: the case of international fisheries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2009

GORDON R. MUNRO
GORDON R. MUNRO*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, #997–1873 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C., CanadaV6T 1Z1. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper is not concerned with advances in game theory. Rather, the paper is concerned with the relevance, if any, of game theory to a major resource management issue, namely the management of internationally shared fishery resources. It is argued that the economics of the management of such resources cannot, in fact, be understood, other than through the lens of game theory. The paper discusses several elementary game theory concepts that are of utmost policy relevance, but which are, as of yet, poorly understood by most policy makers. The paper does, in addition, discuss a key policy problem in the management of shared fishery resources that demands a game-theoretic analysis. The required analysis, however, has yet to be developed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 14 , Issue 1: GAME THEORY, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT , February 2009 , pp. 7 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L.M. and Hodgson, R.D. (1975), ‘The impact of the 200-mile economic zone on the Law of the Sea’, San Diego Law Review 12: 569–599.Google Scholar
Bjørndal, T., Kaitala, V., Lindroos, M., and Munro, G. (2000), ‘The management of high seas fisheries’, Annals of Operations Research 94: 183–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjørndal, T. and Munro, G. (2001), ‘The management of high seas fisheries and the implementation of the UN Agreement of 1995: problems and prospects’, in Johnston, R. and Shriver, A. (eds.) Proceedings of the Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, Corvallis: International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade.Google Scholar
Bjørndal, T. and Munro, G. (2003), ‘The management of high seas fishery resources and the implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement of 1995’, in Folmer, H. and Tietenberg, T. (eds), The International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics 2003/2004, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Bjørndal, T. and Munro, G. (2007), ‘Shared fish stocks and high seas issues’, in Bjørndal, T., Romero, C., and Epstein, R. (eds), Management of Natural Resources: A Handbook of Operations Research Models, Algorithms and Implementations, Amsterdam: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Clark, C.W. (1980), ‘Restricted access to a common property resource’, in Liu, P. (ed.), Dynamic Optimization and Mathematical Economics, New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Clark, C.W. (1990), Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources, 2nd edn, New York: Wiley Interscience.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (2001), ‘International plan of action to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing’, Rome.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (2002), ‘Report of the Norway–FAO expert consultation on the management of shared fish stocks’, Bergen, Norway, 7–10 October 2002 FAO Fisheries Report No. 695, Rome.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (2005), ‘Review of the state of world marine fishery resources’, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 457, Rome.Google Scholar
Gordon, H.S. (1954), ‘The economic theory of a common property resource: the fishery’, Journal of Political Economy 62: 124–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huppert, D. (1995), ‘Why the Pacific Salmon Treaty failed to end the salmon wars’, School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington Working Paper, SMA 95-1.Google Scholar
Kaitala, V.T. (1985), Game Theory Models of Dynamic Bargaining and Contracting in Fisheries Management, Helsinki: Institute of Mathematics, Helsinki University of Technology.Google Scholar
Kaitala, V.T. and Lindroos, M. (1998), ‘Sharing the benefits of cooperation in high seas fisheries: a characteristic function game approach’, Natural Resource Modeling 11: 275–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaitala, V.T. and Munro, G. (1993), ‘The management of high seas fisheries’, Marine Resource Economics 8: 313–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaitala, V.T. and Munro, G. (1997), ‘The conservation and management of high seas fishery resources under the new Law of the Sea’, Natural Resource Modeling 10: 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaitala, V.T. and Pohjola, M. (1988), ‘Optimal recovery of a shared resource stock: a differential game with efficient memory equilibrium’, Natural Resource Modeling 3: 91–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levhari, D. and Mirman, L.J. (1980), ‘The Great Fish War: an example using a dynamic Courant–Nash solution’, Bell Journal of Economics 11: 649–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McRae, D. and Munro, G. (1989), ‘Coastal state ‘rights’ within the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone’, in Neher, P., Arnason, R. and Mollet, N. (eds), Rights Based Fishing, Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K. and Munro, G. (2004), ‘Climate and cooperation: a new perspective on the management of shared fish stocks’, Marine Resource Economics 19: 367–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K., Munro, G., McDorman, T., McKelvey, R., and Tydemers, P. (2001), The 1999 Pacific Salmon Agreement: A Sustainable Solution? Occasional Papers: Canadian–American Public Policy, No. 47, Orono: Canadian–American Center, University of Maine.Google Scholar
Munro, G. (1979), ‘The optimal management of transboundary renewable resources’, Canadian Journal of Economics 3: 271–296.Google Scholar
Munro, G. (1990), ‘Extended jurisdiction and the management of Pacific highly migratory species’, Ocean Development and International Law 21: 289–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, G. (2000), ‘The UN Fish Stocks Agreement of 1995: history and problems of implementation’, Marine Resource Economics 15: 265–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, G. and Stokes, R. (1989), ‘The Canada–United States Pacific Salmon Treaty’, in McRae, D. and Munro, G. (eds), Canadian Oceans Policy: National Strategies and The New Law of the Sea, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, pp. 17–35.Google Scholar
Munro, G., Van Houtte, A., and Willmann, R. (2004), The Conservation and Management of Shared Fish Stocks: Legal and Economic Aspects, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 465, Rome.Google Scholar
Nash, J. (1953), ‘Two-person cooperative games’, Econometrica 21: 128–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2006), ‘High seas task force’, http://www.high-seas.orgGoogle Scholar
Pintassilgo, P. (2003), ‘A coalition approach to the management of high seas fisheries in the presence of externalities’, Natural Resource Modeling 16: 175–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pintassilgo, P. and Lindroos, M. (2006), ‘Coalitions in high seas fisheries: a partition function approach’, paper presented to the 6th Meeting on Game Theory and Practice, Zaragoza, Spain, 10–12 July.Google Scholar
Rayfuse, R. (2006), ‘Regional allocation issues or Zen and the art of pie cutting’, Presentation to the Sharing the Fish Conference 06, Fremantle, Australia, 26 February–2 March 2006 http://www.fishallocation.com/papers/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Reid, C. (2006), ‘Economic implications of an implicit allocation of bigeye harvest rights through an across the board reduction in effort levels in the Western and Central Pacific tuna fishery’, Paper prepared for the Sharing the Fish Conference 06, Fremantle, Australia, 26 February–2 March 2006, http://www.fishallocation.com/papers/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Sumaila, U.R. (1999), ‘A review of game-theoretic models of fishing’, Marine Policy 23: 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumaila, U.R., Munro, G., and Keith, H. (2005), ‘Benguela Current Commission (BCC) economic study’, prepared for the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) and Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) Programme, http://www.earthmind.net/marine/docs/bcc-economic-study.pdfGoogle Scholar
Treaty between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America Concerning Pacific Salmon, March (1985), http://www.psc.org/pubs/treaty.pdfGoogle Scholar
United Nations (1982), ‘United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’, UN Doc. A/Conf.62/122.Google Scholar
United Nations (1995), ‘United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. Agreement for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks’, UN Doc. A/Conf./164/37.Google Scholar
United States Department of State (1999), ‘Diplomatic Note No. 0225 from Canada to the United States’, reply, attached Agreement, June 30, http://www.stgate.gov.Google Scholar
Willock, A. and Cartwright, I. (2006), Conservation Implications of Allocation under the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Sydney: WWF Australia and TRAFFIC Oceania.Google Scholar