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How to Improve the Management of Renewable Resources: The Case of Canada's Northern Cod Fishery
Author(s) -
Grafton R. Quentin,
Sandal Leif K.,
Steinshamn Stein Ivar
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1111/0002-9092.00047
Subject(s) - renewable resource , stock (firearms) , resource (disambiguation) , natural resource economics , renewable energy , fishery , economics , environmental economics , environmental resource management , computer science , ecology , engineering , biology , mechanical engineering , computer network
The paper examines howan easy‐to‐apply optimal feedback rule can be used to solve for optimal levels of exploitation of a renewable resource. Using data from Canada's northern cod fishery, the optimal feedback rule is used to derive optimal levels of exploitation for the years 1962–91 under different discount rates, alternative model specifications, and parameter assumptions. The optimal feedback rule indicates that over much of the period the fishery was economically overexploited and, given the stock development that actually took place, a harvesting moratorium should have been instituted three years earlier than when it was introduced. The results show how the use of a simple and flexible optimal rule by managers of renewable resources can generate substantial gains.