Abstract

Increased recognition of the effects of fishing on the habitat, predators, and prey of target species has led to a broad consensus on the need to abandon single-species focused management policies in favor of a more holistic approach to fisheries management. This approach, known as Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM), is likely to rely on the development of data intensive models that simulate ecosystem processes such as trophic interactions and nutrient cycling. In data-limited situations the development of ecosystem models presents a real obstacle to the implementation of EBFM. Use of portfolio theory to examine strategies that weigh risk and returns for an entire ecosystem has been explored in fisheries management as a tool for EBFM. With the recognition that fish stocks are akin to market assets, biological portfolios can be constructed. The applications in fisheries management rely on the use of readily available catch and revenue time series data and the inclusion of sustainability constraints to limit maximum total allowable catches. In this paper, we create optimal fisheries management portfolios of the West Florida Shelf and the Colombian Pacific Coast. We use the longer time series available in the West Florida Shelf to examine historical performance of the fishery by comparing observed risk and returns to those of the efficient portfolio in past years. Due to the limited length of the time series obtained for the Colombi-an Pacific Coast, we limit our analysis to examining recent performance of the fishery, as well as indicating the composition of the efficient portfolios.

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