Bioeconomic adaptive management procedures for short-lived species: A case study of Pacific saury (Colobabis saira) and Japanese common squid (Todarodes pacificus)

Short-lived fisheries stocks are subject to large fluctuations in abundance and respond rapidly to many factors including changes in oceanographic conditions, biological interactions and fishery exploitation.Management of such species requires a flexible, adaptive framework that responds rapidly to a changing environment, although such schemes are rarely operationalized. In this article, we develop a set of bioeconomic adaptive management schemes that respond to changes in economic conditions, stock abundance and catchability, using as case studies the fisheries targeting short-lived Japanese common squid (Todarodes pacificus) and Pacific saury (Cololabis saira). We suggest that such adaptive schemes have the potential to support the successful implementation of profit maximizing (MEY-based) harvest policies for borderline profitable fisheries targeting short-lived species.