A Practical Guide to Economic Frontiers for Evaluating Benefits of Multispecies Fisheries Management

Most fisheries are managed using a single-species approach, which overlooks multispecies interactions and can lead to suboptimal yields or overfishing. Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) offers a holistic alternative by leveraging these interactions to balance risk and improve yields. Adapting portfolio theory—a financial strategy that reduces risk by considering covariance among assets—EBFM can manage fisheries as a portfolio of species, accounting for interdependencies, uncertainty, and sustainability. This study applies economic frontier analysis using commercial fisheries data to compare historical fishery performance with EBFM potential, revealing that multispecies portfolio approaches consistently outperform single-species management in both revenue and risk. The findings highlight the benefits of EBFM and provide practical guidance for applying portfolio analysis to fisheries management.

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Reference

Brewster, L.R., Townsend, H., Link, J.S., Edwards, F., DePiper, G., Hansell, A.C., Cadrin, S.X. (2025) A practical guide to economic frontiers for evaluating benefits of multispecies fisheries management. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. https://doi.org/10.1093/najfmt/vqae012