Modelling the economic consequences of Marine Protected Areas using the BEMCOM model

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This paper introduces and describes in detail the bioeconomic optimization model BEMCOM (BioEconomic Model to evaluate the COnsequences of Marine
protected areas) that has been developed to assess the economic effects of introducing Marine Protected Areas (MPA) for fisheries. BEMCOM answers the question ‘what’s best?’, i.e. finds the overall optimal effort allocation, from an economic point of view,between multiple harvesting fleets fishing under a subset of restrictions on catches and effort levels. The BEMCOM model is described and applied to the case of the Danish sandeel fishery in the North Sea. It has several times been suggested to close parts of the sandeel fishery in the North Sea out of concern for other species feeding on sandeel and/or spawning in the sandeel habitats. The economic effects of such closures have been assessed using BEMCOM. The results indicate that the model yields reliable
estimates of the effect of MPAs, and can thus be a valuable tool when deciding where to locate MPA.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Bioeconomics
Volume15
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)305-323
Number of pages19
ISSN1387-6996
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Bibliographical note

Published online 23 February 2012

ID: 37714036