Near-to-optimal strategies for quota setting in the Barents Sea

Prosjektsammendrag: The problem is to find near-to-optimal quota strategies for the key sepcies cod, capelin, and herring in the Barents Sea multispecies system. The project is in cooperation with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR). An important side-effect of the projec t is a transfer of knowledgde between the two institutions. The first phase consists of an evaluation of the Systmod model and an adaptation of this model to future needs. For the purpose of this project, the model needs to capture uncertainty, it needs a dynamic description of environmental variation and a description of assessment error, plus an economic part. In a second phase, an optimization package developed at SNF will be used to search for simplified quota strategies. Based on the two first phas es, near-to-optimal quota strategies that consider biology, economics and uncertainty will be found. Alspo near-to-optimal measurement strategies will be searched for, and the need for precautionary policies to avoid severe depletion of species will be examined.