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Over-exploitation of the fisheries and loss in fish biodiversity has been a major concern among researchers and policy makers. Exertion of excessive effort and other factors like water pollution, price signals adversely affect the biodiversity of fish species and threaten the sustainability of the resource. This study carries out a micro case-study in Digha region of West Bengal. The aim of this study is to see how the fish harvest gets affected in the Digha Mohana fishery using Bioeconomic models and ultimately links biodiversity of fish species with the profitability of the fishery.
In an effort has been made to model the effect of water pollution on the loss of fish biodiversity and its ultimate impact on the total fish harvest in the Digha Mohana (Estuarine) Fishery, an environmental quality variable and an economic biodiversity index is introduced in the aggregated Gordon-Schaefer model and then Schnute’s method has been applied to estimate the parameters.
Following this, alternative property right regimes are introduced in the study along with different economic biodiversity levels; them being high, current and low. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out by changing the level of discount rate in order to check its impact on the fishery’s optimal profit for the three different biodiversity scenarios. Discount rate has the potential of affecting the resource allocation between conservation and harvesting. This analysis reveals that the Net Present Value of profit reduces as the discount rate rises.
Conservation of fish biodiversity is necessary as it helps in maintaining the value of the fishery. So, the fishery cannot be made sustainable by just keeping a check on the level of water pollution. The fishermen and policymakers must consider the fact that the sustainability of the fishery can be put in danger by economic biodiversity degradation. In this study it is found that there is a conflict between maximization of profit at the Digha Mohana Fishery and conservation of its economic biodiversity.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Economic Biodiversity, Fishery, Property Right Regimes, Profit Maximization, NPV of profit
