ABSTRACT
A fisheries simulation model was developed to evaluate different management regimes on multiple salmon stocks harvested by multiple fisheries. The model also assesses the economic effects on individual and collective fisheries. The model is tested using the sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka and pink salmon O. gorbuscha fisheries of northern British Columbia and southern Southeast Alaska. Four stock groups (U.S. and Canadian pink and sockeye stocks) and 12 fisheries (five Alaskan and seven Canadian intercepting and terminal commercial fisheries) are included. Fishing effort, in terms of harvest rate for these simulations, is the exogenous variable and stock size and net economic benefit over time are among the output variables. Criteria were developed to reflect different management schemes; given the criteria, the model simulates the effort needed in each fishery to implement the management policy. Three management schemes were assessed for this study: maximizing sustainable yield of the stocks, balancing interceptions by the two countries, and maintaining a fixed harvest rate per fishery. The simulation model suggests that stock production and economic benefits to the fisheries may be reduced significantly when the two countries allocate according to a system that equalizes fishery interceptions rather than maximizes the size of the aggregate harvest.
