Non-market values and optimal marine reserve switching

A stochastic bio-economic model is constructed to analyse the effects of marine reserve ‘switching’ between a ‘no take’ area and a harvested area. The model accounts for both market and non-market values of the fishery. Estimated parameters from the red throat emperor fishery from the Great Barrier Reef are used. Simulations show that an optimal switching strategy is, under a range of scenarios, preferred to fixed reserve and no reserve strategies. An important outcome is that the non-market values associated with the size of the fishery substantially affect both the returns from switching and the closure time. Key words: marine reserves, stochastic control; non-market values