A Theoretical Analysis of Season Length Restrictions in Fisheries Management

This article analyzes season length restrictions in fisheries management from an ecological-economic standpoint. The article first builds a model of a stylized fishery in which season length restrictions are used to manage the fishery. The article then demonstrates how the intertemporal and the stochastic attributes of this fishery can be used to build two management criteria that are meaningful from an ecological perspective. Finally, using these two criteria, the article discusses a stochastic approach to fisheries management in which the primary focus of a manager is on getting the fishery away from the least desirable state of existence