Seattle, Washington – Managing fisheries to maximize profits got a bad name in the 1970s after an economist concluded that overexploitation, even to the point of causing a stock to go extinct, is a definite possibility when fishers are pitted against each other and are attempting to maximize profits. The seminal 1973 article in Science was not a study of how fishers actually behave but was a mathematical exercise weighing the profit advantages and disadvantages of overexploitation.
A new way of looking at maximizing fishery profits, published this week in Science, comes to a different conclusion — one that could lead fishers to buy into the idea of catching fewer fish than they are allowed under commonly used management guidelines.
That’s because when fish are abundant enough, the cost to catch each one — in terms of such things as fuel, vessel time and labor — goes down, according to Ray Hilborn, University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and a co-author on the paper.
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Noelle dEstries
Noelle d'Estries, an early GO employee who took on the varied roles of Community Manager, green celebrity blogger, and more. She currently runs worstcookever.com GO entered Noelle's life in February 2007 while she was burning tires in her backyard. A phone call from the green gods at GO, burnt out the fires. Now, Noelle happily wears her GO sweatshirt while eating organic veggies and asking for paper, not plastic. A regular at the local farmer's market, Noelle shuns raking leaves and lawn maintenance, while making gourmet foods constantly. When not staring at her computer screen, she spends time with her equally attractive dog, Tessa, cat, Tim and lover Paul. She currently holds all three point records at RIT and could eat avocados and drink wine for the rest of her life.
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