A bioeconomic perspective on the Barents Sea snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Majidae) fishery

Summary

The focus of this thesis is the Barents Sea snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio, Majidae) fishery. The crab was first observed in the area in 1996, and a fishery for the crab commenced in 2012. Both the crab population and the fishery are still expanding. The main objective of this thesis is to develop research that contributes to an improved utilization of the crab. For this purpose, a spatial bioeconomic model was developed and used. Initially, the crab was treated as a fishery resource and vessels from Norway, Russia and EU-countries were participating in the fishery in an area of high seas, but in 2015 the crab was established as a sedentary species. This resulted in a new management regime in which Norway and Russia manage and harvest the crab on their respective parts of the continental shelf. Because of this, in 2017 Norwegian vessels were excluded from previously available lucrative harvest grounds on Russian territory and had to fish elsewhere. Paper I focuses on the effect of this regime change on the Norwegian fleet. In Paper I it was found that the regime change is likely to have had a negative effect on the fleet. It was also highlighted that measures may have to be taken to avoid a race-to-fish from developing and overcapacity from emerging. Paper II focuses on the role of fleet dynamics on the geographical expansion of the fishery. The findings suggest that during the initial phase of the fishery – when the focus is on identifying lucrative harvest grounds – the fleet dynamics may affect which areas are explored. Paper III takes the international perspective of the fishery. The results of Paper III suggest that the effect of management measures implemented on a national level may be hampered by the interventions made by the other nation on its share of the fishery. It was also found that there may be gains to be made by implementing a regime of mutual access to harvesting grounds.