The Bioeconomic Implications of A Bycatch Reduction Device as a Stock Conservation Management Measure

The proposed regulation to reduce bycatch and discarding of finfish in the southeastern region is a gear modification that excludes finfish from shrimp trawls. This regulation is analyzed using a simple theoretical model of a multispecies fishery whose bycatch is harvested in a directed fishery consisting of commercial and recreational fishermen. The costless reduction in bycatch fishing mortality imposed on the multispecies fishery does not result in an increased stock size for the bycatch fish species or a substantial increase in its level of harvest. Instead, the fish stock is reallocated from the multispecies fishery to the fishery directed at the bycatch species causing fishing effort to expand in the bycatch species fishery that drives the stock size down to the previously existing equilibrium level. Recreational harvest and effort levels remain unchanged since the model is linear in effort and the commercial fishery is given access to the fishery first.