PhD defense: Uncertainty in Fisheries Management

On Friday 31 August 2012 Diwakar Poudel will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic, and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

29.08.2012 - Ed.

Ocean fishery constitutes an important part of the food resource and therefore its sustainable management is crucial for livelihood and food security for millions of people worldwide.

Although summits like the one in Rio 1992 and in Johannesburg 2002 emphasized the need for sustainable management, several fisheries have collapsed in the recent decades due to mismanagement, particularly in the form of excessive harvesting and ignorance of uncertainty in the fish growth.

A sustainable management of marine resource needs an ecosystem based approach, which is a holistic approach for maintaining ecosystem quality and sustaining benefits.

The Norwegian government aims to have an ecosystem based approach to fisheries management in order to secure a sustainable harvest.

This thesis contributes to this kind of management through development of best management models that aims to maximize value of fishery while taking into account the needs of future generations.

The study particularly focuses on the Barents Sea ecosystem, one of the largest sources of food protein in Norway today and in the future.

The thesis consists of four different thematic papers that analyze various types of uncertainty in fisheries management: fish stock collapse, investment in fisheries, pricing and interactions among different species.

It suggests precautionary catch under uncertainty in fish growths and development, fishing investments and economic aspects. It highlights that the risk of collapse of fisheries is high when its stock is small and fishing environment uncertain. Higher uncertainty leads to high risk of collapse.

The study also finds that predator-prey interaction among the fish species should be taken into consideration for the long term sustainable optimal management of the fishery. In particular, low value prey species should be conserved for high value predators to increase the profit from the fishing industry.

Diawakar Poudel (b. 1970) is from Kapilvastu in Nepal. He has his education from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, University of Life Sciences (UMB) and the University of Oslo. He has been a PhD student at the Department of Finance and Management Science, NHH.

Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
Use of Brownian motion in finance and resource economics

Time of the trial lecture:
10:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Title of the thesis:
Stochastic Analysis in Fisheries Management

Time and place for the defense:
12:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Supervisor:
Professor Leif K. Sandal, NHH (principal supervisor)
Professor Stein Ivar Steinshamn, NHH (co-supervisor)

Evaluation committee:
Professor Rögnvaldur Hannesson, NHH (Chair)
Professor Keith R. Criddle, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Professor Håkan Eggert, Göteborgs Universitet