Management of Newly-Exploited Fish Resources

Much of applied fisheries biological research and most stock assessment techniques have concentrated on the heavily-exploited fisheries that traditionally have been of the greatest economic importance. Recent developments in fishing technology, marine law and international trade have led to rapidly-expanding exploitation of new resource species. The very high profit margins is such new fisheries can make them of great political importance. However, "traditional" management strategies and assessment techniques cannot be applied since there is, necessarily, very little biological data and the resource is, also necessarily, not in equilibrium with the yields. The management problem is fundamentally a socioeconomic one, since newly-exploited resources are clearly not in a state of over-exploitation. However, the future economics of such fisheries depend on the biological responses of their resources to exploitation, since these determine future abundance levels and hence catch rates [controlling profit margins) and total yields [controlling Optimum investment levels). This paper outLines some of the difficulties involved in the management of such newly-developing fisheries and in predicting the biological parameters which must determine the optimum size of the fisheries. No full solutions to these difficulties can yet be offered.