Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:02:48.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A bioeconomic optimization approach for rebuilding marine communities: British Columbia case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2010

C. H. AINSWORTH  and
T. J. PITCHER
C. H. AINSWORTH*
Affiliation:
Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia. 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaV6T 1Z4
T. J. PITCHER
Affiliation:
Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia. 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaV6T 1Z4
*
*Correspondence: Dr Cameron Ainsworth, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Boulevard, East Seattle, WA 98113, USA Tel: +1 202 860 3289 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Many marine ecosystems are depleted of living resources as a result of long-term overexploitation. Restoration plans should perhaps consider the entire ecosystem as opposed to single species, yet there is currently no suitable framework available for the design and comparison of whole-ecosystem restoration trajectories. This paper presents a novel addition to Ecopath with Ecosim's policy search routine, the ‘specific biomass’ objective function, which allows gaming scenarios to be run using selective fishing as a tool to rebuild depleted marine ecosystems or modify them into a preferred state. In this paper, restoration scenarios aimed to restore an ecosystem in Northern British Columbia to a state similar to the historic ecosystem of 1950 AD. Restoration plans that achieve restoration quickly tend to require a large sacrifice in fishery profits, while slower plans allow for continued harvest benefits. A convex relationship between profit and recovered biodiversity suggests that there may be an optimal rate of restoration. Cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that conservative restoration plans can offer a rate of return superior to bank interest when viewed as an investment in natural capital. Increasing the selectivity of fishing gear improves the economic outlook.

Keywords

British ColumbiaEcopath with Ecosimecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF)ecosystem restorationecosystem-based management (EBM)Maxdex fleetoptimal restorable biomass (ORB)trophic models
Type
EC Perspectives
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 301 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2010

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

Ainsworth, C.H. (2006) Strategic marine ecosystem restoration in northern British Columbia. Ph.D. thesis. Resource Management and Environmental Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada: 423 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H. & Pitcher, T.J. (2005) Estimating illegal, unreported and unregulated catch in British Columbia's marine fisheries. Fisheries Research 75: 40–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H. & Pitcher, T.J. (2006) Modifying Kempton's species diversity index for use with ecosystem simulation models. Ecological Indicators 6 (3): 623–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H. & Pitcher, T.J. (2008) Back to the future in northern British Columbia: evaluating historic marine ecosystems and optimal restorable biomass as restoration goals for the future. In: Reconciling Fisheries with Conservation: Proceedings of the Fourth World Fisheries Congress, ed. Nielsen, J.L., Dodson, J.J., Friedland, K., Hamon, T.R., Musick, J. & Verspoor, E., pp. 317–329. Bethesda, Maryland, USA: American Fisheries Society, Symposium 49: 1946 pp.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H. & Sumaila, U.R. (2005) Intergenerational valuation of fisheries resources can justify long-term conservation: a case study in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 1104–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H., Heymans, J.J. & Pitcher, T.J. (2004) Policy search methods for back to the future. In: Back to the Future: Advances in Methodology for Modeling and Evaluating Past Ecosystems. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 12(1), ed. Pitcher, T.J., pp. 48–63. Vancouver, Canada: Fisheries Center, University of British Columbia: 158 pp.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H., Pitcher, T.J., Heymans, J.J. & Vasconcellos, M. (2008 a) Reconstructing historical marine ecosystems using food web models: Northern British Columbia from pre-European contact to present. Ecological Modelling 216: 354–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, C.H., Varkey, D. & Pitcher, T.J. (2008 b) Ecosystem simulations supporting ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Coral Triangle, Indonesia. Ecological Modelling 214 (2–4): 361–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadigan, S.T. & Hutchings, J.A. (2001) Nineteenth-century expansion of the Newfoundland fishery for Atlantic cod: an exploration of underlying causes. In: The Exploited Seas: New Directions for Marine Environmental History, ed. Holm, P., Smith, T.D. & Starkey, D.J., pp. 31–65. St John's, Newfoundland, Canada: International Maritime Economic History Association and Census of Marine Life.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, L.M., Gray, N.J., Hazen, E.L. & Shackeroff, J.M. (2009) Beyond baselines: rethinking priorities for ocean conservation. Ecology and Society 14 (1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, W.W.L. & Sumaila, U.R. (2008) Trade-offs between conservation and socio-economic objectives in managing a tropical marine ecosystem. Ecological Economics 66 (1): 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, V. & Pauly, D. (1992) ECOPATH II. A software for balancing steady-state models and calculating network characteristics. Ecological Modeling 61: 169–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, V. & Pauly, D., eds. (1993) Flow characteristics of aquatic ecosystems. In: Trophic Models of Aquatic Ecosystems. ICLARM Conference Proceedings 26, ed. Christensen, V. & Pauly, D., pp. 338–352. Manila, Philippines: International Center for Living Aquatic Resource Management: 390 pp.Google Scholar
Christensen, V. & Walters, C.J. (2004) Trade-offs in ecosystem-scale optimization of fisheries management policies. Bulletin of Marine Science 74 (3): 549–562.Google Scholar
Christensen, V., Walters, C.J. & Pauly, D. (2005) Ecopath with Ecosim: a User's Guide. November 2005 edition. Vancouver, Canada: Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia: 154 pp. [www document]. URL http://ecopath.org/modules/Support/Helpfile/EweUserGuide51.pdfGoogle Scholar
Christensen, V., Guénette, S., Heymans, J.J., Walters, C.J., Watson, R., Zeller, D. & Pauly, D. (2003) Hundred-year decline of North Atlantic predatory fishes. Fish and Fisheries 4: 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, W.G. & Munro, G.R. (1975) Economics of fishing and modern capital theory: a simplified approach. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 2: 92–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duarte, C.M., Conley, D.J., Carstensen, J. & Sánchez-Camacho, M. (2009) Return to Neverland: shifting baselines affect eutrophication restoration targets. Estuaries and Coasts 32: 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estes, J.A. & Duggins, D.O. (1995) Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm. Ecological Monographs 65 (1): 75–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO (1995) The code of conduct for responsible fisheries. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Adopted by the Twenty-eighth session of the FAO Conference in October 1995 [www document]. URL http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/v9878e/v9878e00.htmGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, R. & Powell, M.J.D. (1963) A rapidly convergent descent method for minimization. The Computer Journal 6: 163–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gréboval, D. & Munro, G.R. (1999) Overcapitalization and excess capacity in world fisheries: underlying economics and methods of control. In: Managing Fishing Capacity: Selected Papers on Underlying Concepts and Issues, pp. 1–48. Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 286. Rome, Italy: FAO.Google Scholar
Halpern, B.S., Walbridge, S., Selkoe, K.A., Kappel, C.V., Micheli, F., D'Agrosa, C., Bruno, J.F., Casey, K.S., Ebert, C., Fox, H.E., Fujita, R., Heinemann, D., Lenihan, H.S., Madin, E.M.P., Perry, M.T., Selig, E.R., Spalding, M., Steneck, R. & Watson, R. (2008) A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science 15 (5865): 948–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, T.P., Bellwood, D.R., Folke, C., Steneck, R. & Wilson, J. (2005) New paradigms for supporting the resilience of marine ecosystems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20 (7): 380–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lance, M., Richardson, S. & Allen, H. (2004) Washington state recovery plan for the sea otter. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, USA: 91 pp. [www document]. URL http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/recovery/seaotter/final_seaotter_recovery_plan_dec2004.pdfGoogle Scholar
Larkin, P.A. (1977) An epitaph for the concept of maximum sustained yield. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 106 (1): 1–11.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larkin, P.A. (1996) Concepts and issues in marine ecosystem management. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 6: 139–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mace, P.M. (1997) Developing and sustaining world fisheries resources: the state of science and management (keynote presentation). In: Developing and Sustaining World Fisheries Resources: the State of Science and Management. Proceedings of the Second World Fisheries Congress, ed. Hancock, D.A., Smith, D.C., Grant, A. & Beumer, J.P., pp. 1–22. Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.Google Scholar
Mace, P.M. (2001) A new role for MSY in single-species and ecosystem approaches to fisheries stock assessment and management. Fish and Fisheries 2: 2–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackinson, S., Blanchard, J.L., Pinnegar, J.K. & Scott, R. (2003) Consequences of alternative functional response formulations in models exploring whale-fishery interactions. Marine Mammal Science 19 (4): 661–681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackay, A. (1981) The generalized inverse. Practical Computing (September): 108–110.Google Scholar
Myers, R.A. & Worm, B. (2003) Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature 423: 280–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myers, R.A. & Worm, B. (2005) Extinction, survival, or recovery of large predatory fishes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 360: 13–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okey, T.A., Vargo, G.A., Mackinson, S., Vasconcellos, M., Mahmoudi, B. & Meyer, C.A. (2004) Simulating community effects of sea floor shading by plankton blooms over the West Florida Shelf. Ecological Modelling 172 (2–4): 339–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Dalsgaard, J., Froese, R. & Torres, F. (1998) Fishing down marine foods webs. Science 279: 860–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Guénette, S., Pitcher, T.J., Sumaila, U.R., Walters, C.J., Watson, R. & Zeller, D. (2002) Towards sustainability in world fisheries. Nature 418 (6898): 689–695.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitcher, T.J. (2001) Fisheries managed to rebuild ecosystems: reconstructing the past to salvage the future. Ecological Applications 11 (2): 601–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J. (2005) ‘Back to the future’: a fresh policy initiative for fisheries and a restoration ecology for ocean ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B. Biological Sciences 360 (1453): 107–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Haggan, N., Preikshot, D. & Pauly, D. (1999) ‘Back to the future’: a method employing ecosystem modeling to maximize the sustainable benefits from fisheries. In: Ecosystem Approaches for Fisheries Management. Proceedings of the 16th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium AK-SG-99-01, pp. 447–466. Sea Grant Fairbanks, Alaska, USA: University of Alaska.Google Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Heymans, J.J., Ainsworth, C.H., Buchary, E.A., Sumaila, U.R. & Christensen, V. (2004) Opening the lost valley: implementing a ‘back to the future’ restoration policy for marine ecosystems and their fisheries. In: Sustainable Management of North American Fisheries, ed. Knudsen, E.E., MacDonald, D.D. & Muirhead, J.K., pp. 173–201. Bethesda, Maryland, USA: American Fisheries Society, Symposium 43.Google Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Ainsworth, C.H., Buchary, E.A., Cheung, W., Forrest, R., Haggan, N., Lozano, H., Morato, T. & Morissette, L. (2005) Strategic management of marine ecosystems using whole-ecosystem simulation modeling: the ‘back to the future’ policy approach. In: Strategic Management of Marine Ecosystems, (NATO Science Series IV. Earth and Environmental Sciences, 50), ed. Levner, E., Linkov, I. & Proth, J.M., pp. 199–258. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer: 313 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, T.J., Kalikoski, D., Pramod, G. & Short, K. (2009) Not honouring the code. Nature 457: 658–659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polovina, J.J. (1984) Model of a coral reef ecosystem. I. The Ecopath model and its application to French frigate shoals. Coral Reefs 3 (1): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedman, M.L. & Estes, J.A. (1998) A review of the history, distribution and foraging ecology of sea otters. In: The Community Ecology of Sea Otters, ed. Van Blarian, G.R. & Estes, J.A., pp. 4–21. Germany: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Rice, J. & Rivard, D. (2003) Proceedings of the zonal assessment meeting: Atlantic cod. Halifax, Nova Scotia. February 17–26, 2003 [www document]. URL http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas/Csas/proceedings/2003/PRO2003_021_E.pdfGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, A. & McLeod, K.O. (2005) Implementing ecosystem-based approaches to management for the conservation of ecosystem services. Marine Ecology Progress Series 300: 270–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, A., Bolster, W.J., Alexander, K.E., Leavenworth, W.B., Cooper, A.B. & McKenzie, M.G. (2005) The history of ocean resources: modeling cod biomass using historical records. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2 (3): 83–90.Google Scholar
Scheffer, M., Carpenter, S., Foley, J.A., Folke, C. & Walker, B. (2001) Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413: 591–596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sumaila, U.R. (2001) Generational cost benefit analysis for the evaluation of marine ecosystem restoration. In: Fisheries Impacts on North Atlantic Ecosystems: Evaluations and Policy Exploration, ed. Pitcher, T.J. & Sumaila, U.R., pp. 3–9. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 9(5): 94 pp [www document]. URL http://www.seaaroundus.org/report/impactpolicyF.htmGoogle Scholar
Sumaila, U.R. (2004) Intergenerational Cost Benefit Analysis and Marine Ecosystem Restoration. Fish and Fisheries 5 (4): 329–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumaila, U.R. & Walters, C.J. (2005) Intergenerational discounting. Ecological Economics 52: 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steneck, R.S., Graham, M.H., Bourque, B.J., Corbette, D., Erlandson, J.M., Estes, J.A. & Tegner, M.J. (2002) Kelp forest ecosystems: biodiversity, stability, resilience and future. Environmental Conservation 29 (4): 436–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walters, C.J. & Kitchell, J.F. (2001) Cultivation/depensation effects on juvenile survival and recruitment: implications for the theory of fishing. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 58 (1): 39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walters, C., Christensen, V. & Pauly, D. (1997) Structuring dynamic models of exploited ecosystems from trophic mass-balance assessments. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 7: 139–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walters, C.J., Pauly, D., Christensen, V. & Kitchell, J.F. (2000) Representing density dependent consequences of life history strategies in aquatic ecosystems: Ecosim II. Ecosystems 3: 70–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walters, C.J., Christensen, V., Martell, S.J. & Kitchell, J.F. (2005) Possible ecosystem impacts of applying MSY policies from single-species assessment. ICES Journal of Marine Science 62: 558–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, J.M., Brainerd, T., Freese, S., Mace, P., Milazzo, M., Squires, D., Terry, J., Thunberd, E., Travis, M. & Walden, J. (2001) Report of the National Task Force for Measuring Fishing Capacity. NOAA Technical Memorandum, NOAA, USA.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Ainsworth and Pitcher supplementary material

Appendix

Download Ainsworth and Pitcher supplementary material(File)
File 41 KB