Abstract
The project focuses on an important subset of the biotic ocean resources, the main commercial fisheries in the Norwegian Sea, and strengthens the links between zooplankton dynamics, fisheries science, and fisheries management. The ecosystem in the Norwegi an Sea is highly volatile and productive and harbors some of the world's largest pelagic stocks like the Norwegian Spring Spawning Herring, blue whiting, and mackerel. Present in the larger region are Barents Sea capelin, Northeast Arctic cod, haddock, sa ithe, and a range of other species. Many of the stocks overlap geographically and temporally and interact in competition for food or in predator-prey relationships. In addition, the key zooplankton Calanus finmarchicus is the primary food source for the p elagic species in the Norwegian Sea as well as for cod larvae. Observed changes in distributions, population, and migrations of the pelagic stocks are probably closely linked to C. finmarchicus dynamics. While the biological and ecological understanding o f C. finmarchicus has developed for years, economists have yet to explicitly incorporate it in their bioeconomic analysis. Thus, not only is the project relevant for the development of ecosystem based management plans for the Norwegian Sea, it is also nov el in its extent and approach to bioeconomic modeling and analysis. The project covers topics of both theoretical and applied interest, and responds to the urgent need for applied and multidisciplinary research regarding exploitation of marine ecosystems with emphasis on modeling of decisions under uncertainty. The project focuses on strategies for optimal and simultaneous harvest decisions, for the main pelagic fisheries in the Norwegian Sea and for individual fleets from Norway, the European Union, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Russia, accounting for strategic behavior between fleets.
Norway