Browsing by Subject "Fisheries"
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Item Open Access A case study analysis of a participatory process in fisheries management(2008-12-05T18:29:57Z) Vasquez, MelissaThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the experiences of participants in a participatory process in environmental management and to examine relative contributions of process features and the achievement of social goals to participants perceptions of their experience. I examined the case of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission Sea Turtle Advisory Committee, an ad-hoc advisory committee composed of scientists, fishermen, and managers convened to develop solutions to reduce sea turtle-fishery interactions in North Carolina inshore waters. I conducted semi-structured interviews with participants about their experience on this committee. I recorded and transcribed audio of the interviews and coded participant responses using NVivo software. Most participants categorized their experience as positive overall, citing the achievement of social goals rather than the production of substantive recommendations. Participants were most satisfied by the level of motivation of their fellow participants, but least satisfied by the lack of responsiveness from the lead agency, the Marine Fisheries Commission. The committee’s achievement of its goals was further hampered by poor facilitation, which resulted in confusion about the goals and scope of the process. Despite significant setbacks, all committee members responded that they would consider participating in a participatory process again in the future.Item Open Access A Comparison of Groundfish Management on the East and West Coasts of the United States(2004) Strader, RachelThe groundfish fisheries of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the US are valuable economically and ecologically. The industries in the two locations have faced depleted stocks and increased regulations by the New England and Pacific Fishery Management Councils over the years. Both fisheries contain a varied array of demersal fish in separate ecosystem contexts, and similar gear types are used in both locations. However, the community and geographical structures, composition and interactions of the Fishery Management Councils, industry organization, and activism create a different historical perspective with which to view management failures and successes. In New England, factors such as a greater value of independence, a lack of cooperation and coordination between stakeholders and scientists, and a longer history of fishery decline have contributed to the current management climate. The Pacific groundfishery has experienced a more recent illumination of overexploitation, but there is a longer history of cooperation between states, fishermen, and scientists. In addition, differences in the Pacific Fishery Management Council structure and process have created a distinct management picture. The management measures enacted by the two councils since the implementation of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act have differed, but neither has been successful—as evidenced by overexploited stocks. Recently, both fisheries management plans have undergone changes in response to the declines and subsequent lawsuits by stakeholder groups. From comparing the characteristics of the two council systems, their methods, and their participants, important lessons can be learned as fisheries management on both sides of the US continues, out of necessity, to evolve.Item Open Access A Gap Analysis of the Distributions of Cephalopod Species Worldwide with a Focus on Commercially Important Species(2010-04-28T21:17:25Z) Fries, Alexandra StikasCephalopods are valuable species as they provide ecological functions and are also important commercially and scientifically. This study attempts to adequately describe the distribution of Class Cephalopoda as well as focusing on a few commercial species ranges. Data from an extensive literature search and several databases such as OBIS and AquaMaps were analyzed to show areas where information is lacking due to no research conducted in the area versus where literature research is excluded from OBIS. For the species distributions modeled in AquaMaps, an accuracy assessment was performed to show if all of the locations where the species have been found would be included within the suspected range. Recommendations for more research or greater conservation actions will also be given for each of the commercial species examined. Fisheries data on the commercial species will be compared to the distributional extents to show where better management practices might be needed.Item Open Access A Global Analysis of the Climate Risk of Women in Small-Scale Fisheries(2023-04-28) Deeg, Claudia SuzanneItem Open Access A Preliminary Approach to Determining the Presence of Formal Co-Management in Small-Scale Fisheries(2023-04-28) Risius, AlexandraMillions of people rely on small-scale fisheries (SSF) for their livelihoods and as a source of vital, nutrient-dense food. Despite the sector’s economic, environmental and cultural significance, SSF are commonly overlooked and ill-defined, leading to fisheries being poorly managed. As SSF continue to make contributions to global fisheries production, it is important that alternative fisheries management approaches are implemented and appropriately supported to ensure SSF sustainability. Co-management is one viable management option that would allow for management power to be split between the government and resource users. This document showcases a methodology that is intended to be used as a starting point for determining co-management within a given SSF. It is designed with stakeholders, students, and researchers as key audiences in mind. This document will use a case study that highlights Chile's SSF to give the user a real-world example of how to implement the methodology and find evidence of co-management principles within their target country.Item Open Access A Preliminary Examination of the Impacts of Faith and Religion in the Use of Common-Pool Resources: The Case of Artisanal Fisheries in Kino Bay and Punta Chueca, Mexico(2012-04-27) Acton, LeslieResearchers studying common-pool resources have historically not given enough attention to the influence of faith and religion among fisheries resource users. However, the ethics and value systems taught by religious leaders and understood by faithful peoples might play an important role in individual decision-making and community dynamics. To increase our understanding of the relationship between faith, religion and fishing common-pool resource use patterns, I conducted a pilot study to explore this issue in Kino Bay and Punta Chueca, two small-scale fishing communities located in the Gulf of California. These two communities are heavily dependent, both economically and culturally, on the health of nearby fishing grounds. I collected data using participant observation and semi-structured interviews with fishers over the course of 52 days in the field during May, June, July and October of 2011. Interviews explored the effects of faith and religion on fishers’ perceptions of fisheries management, fishers’ behavior while fishing, and interactions between fishers. Findings from this pilot study suggest that faith and religion play an important role in the lives of fishers in both Kino Bay and Punta Chueca. Most of the interviewees in both communities believe that human behaviors impact the quantity of fish which God provided. Evangelical interviewees in Kino Bay indicated that their churches teach strict adherence to secular fishing laws, and that their interactions with Catholic and non-religious fishers in this community sometimes result in tension and unequal treatment within the fisheries. Conversely, interviewees in Punta Chueca, which houses only one Evangelical church and no Catholic church, suggest fewer direct impacts and conflicts due to religion in their fisheries. These preliminary findings provide a useful basis for future research to validate, triangulate, and explore the issue in greater depth. They also add to the limited, but growing collection of studies examining the role of faith and religion in common-pool resource management.Item Open Access Application of Global Value Chains to Seafood Sustainability: Lessons from the mahi mahi industries of Ecuador and Peru(2014-04-25) Nanninga, Roxanne; Anhalzer, GabrielaFish products have become the most traded food commodities worldwide but wild fish stocks face ever-increasing pressure from rising demand (Smith et al., 2010). Over 75% of the world’s fisheries are currently either fully or over exploited (FAO, 2014). Developing sustainable fisheries is critical if seafood is to remain available for future generations. Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis frames these challenges holistically by linking global and local scales in order to elucidate operations and relationships throughout the international supply chain. In this study we employ the GVC framework to analyze the production of mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) from Ecuador and Peru that is exported to the United States. Information was collected from stakeholder interviews and analyzed in conjunction with trade and production data. This information was then used to construct product flow patterns, characterize governance structures, and provide insights for potential economic and environmental improvements. The importance of mahi mahi as an export commodity to small-scale fishers in developing countries combined with its highly migratory life history typify many of the challenges facing modern global fisheries. Peru and Ecuador together produce the highest volumes of mahi mahi globally. Nearly 60% of all mahi mahi imported into the United States comes from these two countries. In this analysis, we examine global trends in production and trade and track the two main product forms of mahi mahi—fresh and frozen—through the supply chain. This study also examines the transactions between actors in the supply chain and the private and public institutions acting upon them. Government regulations for fisheries, human health and safety, as well as international standards exert control at each level of the supply chain. Recently sustainability has become an additional criterion guiding the sourcing and sale of seafood. The US, one of the largest seafood buyers in the world, imports over 80% of its seafood. Private, market-based initiatives have emerged as a means of improving seafood sustainability in areas outside US fisheries management. The most prominent of these programs is the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which aims to create demand-driven premiums or preferences for certified products. Motivated by their substantial shares in the US market, Ecuador and Peru are undergoing Fishery Improvement Projects for their mahi mahi fisheries, ultimately aimed at attaining MSC certification. Through an analysis of the governance structures our study examines the influence of various actors within the value chain. We thereby determine which actors hold the greatest leverage to affect changes regarding the decision-making and enforcement of sustainability. Adoption of initiatives that engage in more sustainable seafood sourcing by retailers in the United States creates pressure downstream to implement sustainability standards. Large companies and supply chain segments that are highly integrated can exert more power through the products they buy and sell on downstream supply chain actors. The Peruvian and Ecuadorian mahi mahi fleets are largely comprised of informal networks of artisanal fishers with relatively low technological capabilities. This scenario poses challenges to the effective implementation of private standards and fishery regulations. By contrast, processing plants exert a high degree of control over the supply and production of fish, better positioning them to implement or enforce sustainability measures. Our study recommends improvements for the industry’s environmental and economic outcomes. We do so by evaluating the position of both Ecuador and Peru in the global market and their progress on pre-existing sustainability programs. These include discussion on the importance of sustainable and innovative financing tools for market-based initiatives as well as the need for increased transparency and coordination. Our recommendations, informed by a comprehensive understanding of the value chain, may prove useful to industry leaders and environmental organizations interested in improving sustainability practices.Item Open Access Assessing Data Requirements for Calculating Sustainable Marine Mammal Bycatch Limits(2022-04-15) May, EvaThe Fish and Fish Product Import Provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act extend several domestic marine mammal management tools to foreign fisheries wishing to export their products to the United States. One of these tools is the calculation of bycatch limits for marine mammal populations impacted by fishing operations. Several methods exist for these calculations, with the most ubiquitous methodology being the Potential Biological Removal model. This study explores all calculation methods and their data requirements, categorizing methods based on model structure and input data. Measures and concepts of population size are most crucial to creating bycatch limit models across existing methods. Exporting fishery managers in low-data environments should focus on collecting population abundance data while being mindful of other important factors such as data uncertainties, how models fit into larger regulatory schemes, and conservation objectives. Further, these models are most accurate and impactful when they are updated and grown as more data about marine mammal populations are collected. Data availability is the primary limiting factor in implementing bycatch limit methods, and this work has important implications for comparability determinations for foreign fisheries under the new Import Provisions.Item Open Access Assessing Fishing Pressure in a Small-Scale Fishery in St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean(2020-04-24) Cullinan, GraceWorld fisheries are an important source of food and income for millions of people around the world, and represents a billion dollar industry (FAO, 2018). As a result, research on fisheries has mainly focused on large, commercial fisheries and less on small-scale, subsistence and artisanal fisheries (Anticamara et al., 2011). The result is a perceived lack of data from small-scale fisheries, and therefore less is known about their impact on the surrounding environment and importance to the communities that utilize them. Recent research on small-scale fisheries (SSF) has shown that data deficiencies can impact sustainability efforts, and have a large impact on small island developing states (Nash et al. 2016, Gill et al. 2019). Global fisheries are at risk, and SSF even more so, as anthropogenic effects reduce catch, change the range distribution of fish, change productivity, and drive the decline of fish stocks (Brander, 2010; Doney et al., 2012; Hanich et al., 2018). In order to curb these potentially dangerous declines, more research and capital needs to be invested in researching small-scale fisheries. St. Eustatius, a small island developing nation, which is part of the Dutch Caribbean, has a marine park surrounding the entire island from the high water line down to 30 meters, as well as two marine reserves. As a small developing island territory, maintaining their coral reef ecosystem and their reef fisheries is important for the island economy, nutrition, and food security (de Graaf et al., 2015). However, up until now the effects of different gear types and fishing pressure on the surrounding coral reefs, fish populations, fish size, and how those trends have changed over time in St. Eustatius has been poorly understood. In this Masters Project, we will utilize the fisheries landings data and GCRMN data collected by STENAPA to assess fishing intensity and its potential effects on the surrounding reef ecosystem, in an effort to help with future management strategies, and offer a cost effective approach to addressing some of the knowledge gaps surrounding St. Eustatius fisheries.Item Open Access Can the last deep-sea Oculina coral reefs be saved?: A management analysis of the Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern(2007-05) Roth, KellyThe ivory tree coral, Oculina varicosa, is known to form reefs only in deep water (80-100 meters) off the central Atlantic coast of Florida. These unique reefs support high levels of biodiversity, and provide important spawning habitat for commercially important fish species such as snappers and groupers. The fragile, slow-growing Oculina reefs are easily destroyed by bottom trawls, and other types of bottom fishing gear. In 1984 the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council established the Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC), banning all bottom trawling in a portion of the reef system. The protected area was expanded in 1994 to include most of the Oculina reefs. However, recent surveys showed that about 90% of the reefs have been destroyed, mainly by bottom trawling for rock shrimp. This project is an analysis of why the Oculina reefs are almost gone despite many years of protection, and what could be done to improve enforcement and protection of the Oculina HAPC. Information was collected from literature research, and conversations with several stakeholders and experts on issues relevant to the Oculina HAPC. Four main policy problems emerged: a historical lack of enforcement in the rock shrimp fishery, continuing lack of enforcement in the snapper grouper fishery, insufficient penalties for violations of the HAPC regulations, and a lack of funding for research, enforcement, education, and outreach. The pros and cons of six potential solutions to address these problems are discussed: (1) require VMS in the snapper grouper fishery; (2) establish acoustic monitoring systems in the OECA; (3) increase penalties for violations of the Oculina HAPC; (4) increase funding for research, enforcement, education, and outreach; (5) expand the Oculina HAPC; and (6) establish part or all of the Oculina HAPC as a National Marine Sanctuary. It is important to establish effective protections for the Oculina HAPC, not only to conserve the remaining Oculina reef ecosystems, but to learn how to prevent such widespread destruction of other deep-sea coral ecosystems.Item Open Access Catch Share Management in New England: Groundfish Sectors(2010-04-29T15:07:25Z) Gordon, KimberlyThe management of domestic fisheries by the use of catch shares has become a topic of increased attention in recent years. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) recently voted to adopt a catch share program for their Northeast Multispecies Fishery, proposing the addition of 17 new sectors which will manage a collective quota for the multispecies complex. This paper discusses the specifics of the Fishery Management Plan amendment as it pertains to the sector program and highlights three potential concerns that have been raised with regard to the implementation of sectors: insufficient monitoring, excessive consolidation, and impacts on communities. An exploration of actions taken by other regional Fishery Management Councils to address these concerns provides insight into potential management options that the New England Fishery Management Council may wish to consider as they move forward. These options are evaluated in the context of New England’s groundfish fishery, culminating in recommended actions that would enhance the ability of the management program to achieve its desired goals. Evaluation of the monitoring program in the British Columbia Groundfish Fishery reveals the potential benefits of full monitoring coverage for the Northeast Multispecies Sector program. Considering accumulation limits set in 10 domestic catch share programs to address consolidation reveals the need for the NEFMC to establish accumulation limits at a level commensurate with the management plan’s total objectives. Lastly, drawing from experiences in several Alaska fisheries and the new Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery IFQ program, utilizing an adaptive management approach would provide the NEFMC with tools to mitigate undesired impacts on fishing communities. The above recommendations have the potential to strengthen the New England multispecies sector program and increase the likelihood of achieving the full suite of management objectives.Item Open Access Characterization of Scale in Commercial Fisheries Data(2004) Sanderson, Melissa AAs management of commercial fisheries becomes more spatially oriented, collection of commercial fisheries data must adapt to accurately reflect location. An important component of accurate spatial data is scale. In an attempt to characterize patterns of scale in fisheries data, I tested the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast bottom trawl survey data for spatial dependency using semivariogram analysis. Specifically, and more importantly for management, I wanted to determine if the distance between sample locations is a good predictor variable for how much fish will be caught. Focusing on 1996-2002 catch data for Atlantic cod and witch flounder, I found that for current data collection techniques, the variance of catch weight is spatially independent from distance between observations. Thus, the scale and spatial pattern of the data can not be characterized based on distance for the range of space and time analyzed. This finding does not rule out the possibility that spatial dependence may be observed in these fisheries if we were to examine data sets with finer spatial distances and finer time intervals. Because ocean processes vary significantly across time, the effect of aggregating the spatial data across time may have acted to conceal some of the potential trends in the data set. Determining the spatial patterns in the data is part of a sequential approach to understanding ecological processes. Alternative hypotheses that may possibly explain the spatial pattern of the data need to be tested and include spatial patterns being dependent upon bottom habitat complexity, water temperature, and/or prey availability. The goal is to find a variable that explains fish biomass patterns, allowing managers and scientists to begin to understand what proxy data they really need to collect and map, and at what scale, in order to predict patterns of fishes for effective and sustainable fisheries management.Item Open Access Climate drives the geography of marine consumption by changing predator communities.(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020-11) Whalen, Matthew A; Whippo, Ross DB; Stachowicz, John J; York, Paul H; Aiello, Erin; Alcoverro, Teresa; Altieri, Andrew H; Benedetti-Cecchi, Lisandro; Bertolini, Camilla; Bresch, Midoli; Bulleri, Fabio; Carnell, Paul E; Cimon, Stéphanie; Connolly, Rod M; Cusson, Mathieu; Diskin, Meredith S; D’Souza, Elrika; Flores, Augusto AV; Fodrie, F Joel; Galloway, Aaron WE; Gaskins, Leo C; Graham, Olivia J; Hanley, Torrance C; Henderson, Christopher J; Hereu, Clara M; Hessing-Lewis, Margot; Hovel, Kevin A; Hughes, Brent B; Hughes, A Randall; Hultgren, Kristin M; Jänes, Holger; Janiak, Dean S; Johnston, Lane N; Jorgensen, Pablo; Kelaher, Brendan P; Kruschel, Claudia; Lanham, Brendan S; Lee, Kun-Seop; Lefcheck, Jonathan S; Lozano-Álvarez, Enrique; Macreadie, Peter I; Monteith, Zachary L; O’Connor, Nessa E; Olds, Andrew D; O’Leary, Jennifer K; Patrick, Christopher J; Pino, Oscar; Poore, Alistair GB; Rasheed, Michael A; Raymond, Wendel W; Reiss, Katrin; Rhoades, O Kennedy; Robinson, Max T; Ross, Paige G; Rossi, Francesca; Schlacher, Thomas A; Seemann, Janina; Silliman, Brian R; Smee, Delbert L; Thiel, Martin; Unsworth, Richard KF; van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I; Vergés, Adriana; Yeager, Mallarie E; Yednock, Bree K; Ziegler, Shelby L; Duffy, J EmmettThe global distribution of primary production and consumption by humans (fisheries) is well-documented, but we have no map linking the central ecological process of consumption within food webs to temperature and other ecological drivers. Using standardized assays that span 105° of latitude on four continents, we show that rates of bait consumption by generalist predators in shallow marine ecosystems are tightly linked to both temperature and the composition of consumer assemblages. Unexpectedly, rates of consumption peaked at midlatitudes (25 to 35°) in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres across both seagrass and unvegetated sediment habitats. This pattern contrasts with terrestrial systems, where biotic interactions reportedly weaken away from the equator, but it parallels an emerging pattern of a subtropical peak in marine biodiversity. The higher consumption at midlatitudes was closely related to the type of consumers present, which explained rates of consumption better than consumer density, biomass, species diversity, or habitat. Indeed, the apparent effect of temperature on consumption was mostly driven by temperature-associated turnover in consumer community composition. Our findings reinforce the key influence of climate warming on altered species composition and highlight its implications for the functioning of Earth's ecosystems.Item Open Access Combatting the Threats to Large Scale Marine Protected Areas: How International Partnerships Can Ensure the Success of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary(2021-04-30) Burgwyn, Collinson + "III"In October 2015, President Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. of the Republic of Palau signed the Palau National Marine Sanctuary Act that established 80% of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone as a marine protected area (MPA). At the time of signature, the Palau National Marine Sanctuary (PNMS) was the sixth-largest MPA in the world at 500,000 km2 and a continuation of Palau’s international leadership in conservation efforts with other examples being the establishment of the world’s first shark sanctuary in 2009 (Horstmeyer, 2016). The goals of the PNMS are to promote healthy ocean populations and ecosystems, food security, and sustainable development while the main threat to these goals is Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing (IUU). This project will apply the theory of change to demonstrate why IUU fishing is the greatest threat and present recommendations on how Palau should bolster international partnerships between other national governments and non-governmental organizations to achieve the goals and purpose of the PNMS.Item Open Access CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH IN THE MADISON SWANSON MARINE PROTECTED AREA(2007-05) Flowers, J. McDavid JrThe Madison Swanson Marine Protected Area was established to protect gag grouper, Mycteroperca microlepis, spawning aggregations on high relief, deepwater habitat in the Gulf of Mexico. Fishery biologists observed a decline in the proportion of male individuals in the population. The decline led fishery managers to question the reproductive health of the gag grouper population. However, competing theories on gag grouper ecology led to divergent views on the best management policy for gag grouper protection. In the end, fishery managers chose to use the precautionary approach to implement an MPA to protect gag grouper spawning aggregations. In this case, the precautionary approach had consequences that should be considered when managing fisheries in the future. I investigated the pertinent literature and participated in NOAA research within the MPA in the summer of 2006.Item Open Access Counterpoint to Obura(ICES Journal of Marine Science, 2018-05-01) Basurto, XavierItem Open Access Do Federally-Managed Fish Stocks Have a Better Stock Status Than State-Managed Fish Stocks?(2023-04-18) Barrows, KatlineThis study compared the stock status of 40 federally-managed and 69 state-managed fish stocks in the United States using B/BMSY and F/FMSY data from multiple sources. Results show that federally-managed fish stocks had a statistically significantly better overfishing status than state-managed fish stocks, based on fishing mortality ratios from 2017-2021. The difference may be attributed to the robust management approach adopted by the federal government under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Although more policy analysis is needed, these findings provide insights into how different fisheries management approaches may affect the overall stock status of state and federally managed stocks. These results will be used in ongoing Collaboratory research to understand the stock status of North Carolina fisheries.Item Open Access Dock to Doorstep: An Overview of Community Supported Fishery (CSF) Programs in the United States & Canada(2015-04-09) Bolton, AlexisIn response to an increasingly globalized seafood industry, Community Supported Fishery (CSF) programs have gained popularity over the last decade. Based loosely on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, CSFs have been described as one way to alter the traditional seafood supply chain by connecting fishers more directly to consumers. While there are a number of potential benefits to this marketing strategy, CSF programs can vary with respect to their goals, institutional structure, sourcing practices, distribution methods, and supplementary seafood sales, which may result in differential benefits to consumers and harvesters. To further investigate these differences and why they may occur, I conducted phone interviews with 22 CSFs, representing 56% of the CSFs currently in operation the United States and Canada. Results indicate CSF programs are diverse and greater consideration should be taken to understand the potential benefits of each unique model. To draw attention to the diversity of arrangements the term ‘CSF’ represents, and help ensure the potential benefits of particular CSF arrangements are presented accurately, three types of CSFs are identified based on the results of this study.Item Open Access Ecological and economic tradeoffs between herring fisheries and whale watching in New England(2014-04-24) Yan, LingxiaoThe whale-watching industry is an important component of the New England regional economy with about one million tourism visitors. Humpback whales are the most popular whale-watching targets, whose primary activity in this area is feeding that mainly on herrings. Meanwhile, the value of herring fisheries is more than $20M annually and it is the major supply for canneries and lobster bait. According to the historical document, over-harvesting of herrings may cause the dramatic depletion of humpback whale stock. This research investigates the economic benefits and losses of the ban on the harvesting for herring in the New England area. I compare the revenue of herring fisheries and whale-watching under different herring harvest levels through integrated economic-ecological analysis. The marine ecosystem side will be modeled through EMAX food web. The socio-economical analysis focuses on the herring fisheries and whale watching market price and quantity. By comparing the two-sided benefits, this research evaluates if herring should be left in the marine ecosystem or harvested. The result indicated that the decrease of herring harvest would not cause dramatic increase of the whale stock,, at least in the short term. Accordingly, the decline of herring landing would not significantly or equally increases the revenue from the whale watching tourism. The result suggests that the current herring fisheries landing might not have a significant impact on the whale population.Item Open Access Ecological and Economic Tradeoffs Between Herring Fisheries and Whale Watching in New England(2014-04-24) Yan, LingxiaoThe whale-watching industry is an important component of the New England regional economy with about one million tourism visitors. Humpback whales are the most popular whale-watching targets, whose primary activity in this area is feeding that mainly on herrings. Meanwhile, the value of herring fisheries is more than $20M annually and it is the major supply for canneries and lobster bait. According to the historical document, over-harvesting of herrings may cause the dramatic depletion of humpback whale stock. This research investigates the economic benefits and losses of the ban on the harvesting for herring in the New England area. I compare the revenue of herring fisheries and whale-watching under different herring harvest levels through integrated economic-ecological analysis. The marine ecosystem side will be modeled through EMAX food web. The socio-economical analysis focuses on the herring fisheries and whale watching market price and quantity. By comparing the two-sided benefits, this research evaluates if herring should be left in the marine ecosystem or harvested. The result indicated that the decrease of herring harvest would not cause dramatic increase of the whale stock,, at least in the short term. Accordingly, the decline of herring landing would not significantly or equally increases the revenue from the whale watching tourism. The result suggests that the current herring fisheries landing might not have a significant impact on the whale population.