SEMINAR: MBF 602 Seminar - Steve Saul, Friday, April 15 1:00PM, RSMAS Seminar Room

["Steven Saul" <ssaul@rsmas.miami.edu>]

Modeling the decision making behavior of fishers in the reef fish fishery
on the West Coast of Florida

In order to understand and effectively regulate the impact of fishing on
harvested populations, it is necessary to not only study the population
dynamics of the prey (fish), but also the population dynamics of the
predator (fishers).  Fisher?s decisions can influence the effectiveness of
different management measures as such decisions can allow fishers to
dissipate the benefits of regulation.  Furthermore, these decisions
determine the spatial and temporal locations of fishery-dependent
observations.  In most stock assessments such observations are used to
infer the abundance of fish populations and are essential in our efforts
to understand the dynamics of fish stocks.

Various studies have been done to understand and model different aspects
of fisher behavior including search behavior, learning and information
exchange, whether or not to fish and site choice.  The purpose of this
study is to better understand and quantify the decision making process of
vessels in the commercial vertical line and longline fleets that fish on
the West Florida Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico.  The following aspects of a
fisher?s decision making process are considered:  participation (whether
or not to commence a fishing trip on a given day), site choice, and when
to return to port.  A written survey asking vessel captains detailed
questions about these three decisions was administered to a sub-sample of
the fleet.  Information obtained from the survey responses was used to
structure three discrete choice models for these decisions:  two binomial
conditional logit models for the decision when to take a fishing trip and
the decision when to return from a fishing trip, and a multinomial mixed
model for deciding fishing location.  This scenario assumes that these
three decisions are made independent of one another.

Results suggest that when choosing to take a fishing trip, individuals
were influenced by the fishing regulations, fish price, wind speed, price
of fuel, the day of the week, and vessel use frequency (continuous
variable characterizing  how heavily or lightly used a vessel is in the
commercial fishery).  When deciding to return to port vessels were
influenced by the fishing regulations, wind speed, the proportion that
they filled their fish hold, and the day of the week.  The outputs from
this modeling exercise will be used to parameterize a coupled bioeconomic
simulation model used to understand the impact of fisher behavior on catch
per unit of effort.



Steven Saul
B.S. Environmental Science and Music, University of Richmond, 2004
M.A. Marine Affairs and Policy, University of Miami, 2006
Entered Ph.D. Program, Fall 2006

Advised by:  Dr. David Die



-- 
Steven Saul, M.A.
Graduate Assistant, Marine Biology and Fisheries
Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies
Cooperative Unit for Fisheries Education and Research
University of Miami - RSMAS
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.
Miami, Florida  33149
+ 1 305-421-4831
http://cufer.rsmas.miami.edu


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