Mixed-fisheries issues and RTI management in the Baltic Sea

Student: 
Zorana Bjelosevic

The fisheries-management system that is applied in the European Union brings along two major problems. The first problem is that relatively large spatial and temporal scales are used in the regulations. For example, the main management measure, the total allowable catch or TAC, is set annually for relatively large management areas. However, biological resources vary at much finer spatial and temporal scales. As for the second problem, fishermen have many issues with the complex regulations, prescriptions and prohibitions of the current management system, which reduces their compliance. An idea for a novel management system has been proposed in order to simplify this complexity. This proposed management approach, called “RTI” (Real-Time Incentives), considers biological variation at a much smaller temporal and spatial scale within a current management area. This master thesis focusses on one particular fishery in one particular management area, namely the demersal fisheries in the Baltic Sea, and investigates how the application of the new management system could be implemented there. One of the first concerns of this new management approach is how to set the RTI tariffs in mixed-fisheries areas. The thesis is concerned with the two major species in the demersal fishery in the Baltic Sea: cod and plaice.