FISH 506J

Managing Nature: The Case of Fisheries

Connect to UBC Calendar
Credit Value: 2 Credits

Schedule: Not offered, 2025/2026

Description: This course will be taught online, with audiences at UBC and Paris-Dauphine. It is projected that available technology will allow seven sessions to be held in-person at UBC (with the Dauphine audience attending remotely) and seven sessions to be held in-person at Dauphine (with the UBC audience attending remotely). If technology fails, 12 sessions will be held remotely at both sides, and 2 sessions will be held in-person and separately.

Part 1: Bioeconomics, taught by Dr. Rashid Sumaila

  • Introduction to the Oceans
    • Global warming, acidification, desoxygenation. Consequences on marine populations.
    • The two sides of fisheries: catches and alimenation. North/South disequilibrium.
  • The Economics: Gordon-Schaefer model and beyond
    • The model, Allee effect, MSY
    • Economics: open vs. restricted access, the role of interest and discount rates
    • Management instruments: 
      • Subsidies and taxes
      • Transferable and non-transferable quotas
      • Marine protected areas
  • Ecosystem Models
    • Using ECOPATH and ECOSYM
    • Alternative models and complementarity: OSMOSE, APECOSM, ATLANTIS, and EWE viability – what are they used for? What is the complementarity?

Part 2: Beyond Optimization, taught by Dr. Ivar Ekeland

  • The Concept of Optimization
    • Individuals: utility function, expectations, time preference
    • Groups: Condorcet paradox, Pareto optimum
    • Groups: Nash equilibrium
  • The Economics of Natural Resources
    • The unitary model: Ramsey
    • Solving for optimality
      • Finding the equilibrium
      • Writing the HJB equation
      • Solving the HJB equation
    • Non-renewable resources
      • The Hotelling rule
      • The Hubbert curve
    • The economics of fisheries
      • The Gordon-Schaefer model as a particular case of the Ramsey model
      • The tipping point
    • Intergenerational equity, part 1
      • The Chichilnisky criterion and time inconsistency
      • The intergenerational game and equilibrium Markov strategies
      • The HJB equation
      • Finding equilibrium strategies
    • Intergenerational equity, part 2
      • The Sumaila-Walters criterion and time inconsistency
      • The HJB equation
      • Finding equilibrium strategies

Course Instructors: Dr. Rashid Sumaila and Dr. Ivar Ekeland