Behavioural economics in fisheries: A systematic review protocol.

BACKGROUND: The field of behavioural economics holds several opportunities for integrated fisheries management and conservation and can help researchers and managers alike understand fisher behaviour and decision-making. As the study of the cognitive biases that influence decision-making processes, behavioural economics differentiates itself from the classical field of economics in that it does not assume strictly rational behaviour of its agents, but rather looks for all mechanisms that influence behaviour. This field offers potential applications for fisheries management, for example in relation to behavioural change, but such applications require evidence of these mechanisms applied in a fisheries context. Thus, we have developed a systematic literature review protocol focusing on the primary question: "Which behavioural economics mechanisms influence fisher behaviour?" The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of these different mechanisms and how they have been applied in the study of fisher behaviour. METHODS AND EXPECTED OUTPUTS: The review protocol was developed in close collaboration with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Working Group on Maritime Systems (WGMARS). WGMARS members were therefore considered the key stakeholders for this study, and were consulted to develop a suitable systematic review question and methodology. Three academic databases will be searched using a customized Boolean keyword search string. Research articles deemed eligible for inclusion in the systematic review are those that studied the influence of behavioural-economics mechanisms on the behaviour of marine fishers in any location, and at any scale. Insights from this literature will be collated in order to provide an overview of the relevant behavioural-economics mechanisms and actions, how effective these mechanisms are and at what scale, geographic region and in which fisheries sector they have been applied. Any fisheries management implications identified by the studies under review will also be outlined. Finally, it will be recorded whether or not ethical considerations were made in the reviewed literature, so that in the discussion it will be possible to reflect on the ethics of conducting behavioural-economics research and policy actions in a fisheries context.

Attuning to a changing ocean.

The ocean is a lifeline for human existence, but current practices risk severely undermining ocean sustainability. Present and future social-ecological challenges necessitate the maintenance and development of knowledge and action by stimulating collaboration among scientists and between science, policy, and practice. Here we explore not only how such collaborations have developed in the Nordic countries and adjacent seas but also how knowledge from these regions contributes to an understanding of how to obtain a sustainable ocean. Our collective experience may be summarized in three points: 1) In the absence of long-term observations, decision-making is subject to high risk arising from natural variability; 2) in the absence of established scientific organizations, advice to stakeholders often relies on a few advisors, making them prone to biased perceptions; and 3) in the absence of trust between policy makers and the science community, attuning to a changing ocean will be subject to arbitrary decision-making with unforeseen and negative ramifications. Underpinning these observations, we show that collaboration across scientific disciplines and stakeholders and between nations is a necessary condition for appropriate actions.

Making Common Sense of Vaccines: An Example of Discussing the Recombinant Attenuated Salmonella Vaccine with the Public.

Researchers have iterated that the future of synthetic biology and biotechnology lies in novel consumer applications of crossing biology with engineering. However, if the new biology's future is to be sustainable, early and serious efforts must be made towards social sustainability. Therefore, the crux of new applications of synthetic biology and biotechnology is public understanding and acceptance. The RASVaccine is a novel recombinant design not found in nature that re-engineers a common bacteria (Salmonella) to produce a strong immune response in humans. Synthesis of the RASVaccine has the potential to improve public health as an inexpensive, non-injectable product. But how can scientists move forward to create a dialogue of creating a 'common sense' of this new technology in order to promote social sustainability? This paper delves into public issues raised around these novel technologies and uses the RASVaccine as an example of meeting the public with a common sense of its possibilities and limitations.

Evolutionary impact assessment: accounting for evolutionary consequences of fishing in an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

Managing fisheries resources to maintain healthy ecosystems is one of the main goals of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). While a number of international treaties call for the implementation of EAF, there are still gaps in the underlying methodology. One aspect that has received substantial scientific attention recently is fisheries-induced evolution (FIE). Increasing evidence indicates that intensive fishing has the potential to exert strong directional selection on life-history traits, behaviour, physiology, and morphology of exploited fish. Of particular concern is that reversing evolutionary responses to fishing can be much more difficult than reversing demographic or phenotypically plastic responses. Furthermore, like climate change, multiple agents cause FIE, with effects accumulating over time. Consequently, FIE may alter the utility derived from fish stocks, which in turn can modify the monetary value living aquatic resources provide to society. Quantifying and predicting the evolutionary effects of fishing is therefore important for both ecological and economic reasons. An important reason this is not happening is the lack of an appropriate assessment framework. We therefore describe the evolutionary impact assessment (EvoIA) as a structured approach for assessing the evolutionary consequences of fishing and evaluating the predicted evolutionary outcomes of alternative management options. EvoIA can contribute to EAF by clarifying how evolution may alter stock properties and ecological relations, support the precautionary approach to fisheries management by addressing a previously overlooked source of uncertainty and risk, and thus contribute to sustainable fisheries.

A bio-economic analysis of harvest control rules for the Northeast Arctic cod fishery.

Harvest control rules (HCRs) have been implemented for many fisheries worldwide. However, in most instances, those HCRs are not based on the explicit feedbacks between stock properties and economic considerations. This paper develops a bio-economic model that evaluates the HCR adopted in 2004 by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fishery Commission to manage the world's largest cod stock, Northeast Arctic cod (NEA). The model considered here is biologically and economically detailed, and is the first to compare the performance of the stock's current HCR with that of alternative HCRs derived with optimality criteria. In particular, HCRs are optimized for economic objectives including fleet profits, economic welfare, and total yield and the emerging properties are analyzed. The performance of these optimal HCRs was compared with the currently used HCR. This paper show that the current HCR does in fact comes very close to maximizing profits. Furthermore, the results reveal that the HCR that maximizes profits is the most precautionary one among the considered HCRs. Finally, the HCR that maximizes yield leads to un-precautionary low levels of biomass. In these ways, the implementation of the HCR for NEA cod can be viewed as a success story that may provide valuable lessons for other fisheries.