ABSTRACT
The overexploitation of open-access fisheries has led to the introduction of regulations to control the level of fishing effort. In response to a need to evaluate the effects of these regulations a number of objectives, which may prove useful goals for fisheries management, have been devised. This chapter explores these objectives in an attempt to illustrate the requirements of a successful management programme. The injection of economics into fisheries research led to the consideration of maximum economic yield as a possible objective of management. The types of objectives that have been employed can be classified into three groups. Firstly, there are those objectives which are concerned with the attainment of some level of physical yield from the fishery. Secondly, the injection of economics into fisheries research led to the consideration of maximum economic yield as a possible objective of management. Thirdly, as a reaction against maximum economic yield, the objective of optimum yield has been proposed.
