ON SUSTAINABILITY AND FINANCIAL RETURN OF FISHERY RESOURCES by Abdulrahman Ben Hasan A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Oceans and Fisheries) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July 2021 © Abdulrahman Ben Hasan, 2021 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: On sustainability and financial return of fishery resources submitted by Abdulrahman Ben Hasan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Oceans and Fisheries Examining Committee: Villy Christensen, Professor, Oceans and Fisheries, UBC Supervisor Carl J. Walters, Professor Emeritus, Oceans and Fisheries, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Charles R. Menzies, Professor, Anthropology, UBC University Examiner Peter Arcese, Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: U. Rashid Sumaila, Professor, Oceans and Fisheries, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Brett van Poorten, Assistant Professor, Resource and Environmental Management, SFU Supervisory Committee Member ii Abstract Overexploitation and resource rent dissipation are some of the fundamental issues in fisheries management. The first undermines food security while the second implies a minimal economic return to the owning society. Sustainable fisheries are predominantly attained in conjunction with high management intensity, which keeps exploitation rates in check. Yet controlling exploitation becomes a daunting task under many complex fisheries contexts. Further, although profitability of fishing industry has improved after introducing quota-based systems, it is perceived that society is not receiving a fair share of the resource rent. In this dissertation, I focus on the Arabian Gulf region as a microcosm to examine various complex fisheries problems and underline, globally, the society’s compensation from the fishing industry. I begin by discussing situations where open access conditions are irreversible due to inherently poor management institutions or high dependency on fishing for livelihood. I show that well-designed size restriction— an easily implementable approach—can help avert overexploitation, rebuild depleted fish stocks and enhance yields without controlling exploitation rates. Next, I examine internationally shared fish stocks, whose sustainability requires managing exploitation rates at the international level rather than merely locally. I develop an age-structured model to evaluate bioeconomic trade-offs under alternative fishing scenarios. Harvesting a shared fish stock under cooperation or local but sustainable management provides much higher bioeconomic gains than competition. I then discuss the impacts of escalated market demand for dried swim bladder on fish, people and management in source countries. I highlight that while management interventions are required, the extremely high value of swim bladder would complicate regulatory efforts by stimulating black-market systems. Finally, I examine whether resource rent charges are imposed on catch share fisheries, and systematically compare that with forestry, oil, gas, and mining in 18 countries. I show that fishing is the only industry that consistently lacks resource rent charges, implying a forgoing stream of income in most countries. My dissertation contributes toward alleviating overfishing when exploitation rates are difficult to manage and underscores the need for national policies to consider the enhanced profitability of the fishing industry under catch share systems. iii Lay Summary Fishery resources provide food and livelihood for millions of people, and because they are public resources, they can generate a stream of income to coastal states. However, sustainability is difficult to achieve under many contexts, and society is perceived to be deprived of the income stream from exploiting its resources. I tackle the first problem by analyzing diverse fisheries contexts that complicate management, like fundamentally weak regulatory agencies, transboundary fish stocks, and escalated market demand. I deliver practical insights that help protect fish stocks and enhance fishery catches under these contexts. I address the second problem by investigating whether society is receiving compensation from fisheries. I find that out of 18 countries and among four other major extractive industries, fishing is the only industry that lacks resource rent charges in most countries. My research supports sustainability in challenging fisheries conditions and highlight a forgone economic return from fishery resources. iv Preface The Introduction in Chapter 1 includes edited parts of a published paper: Ben-Hasan, A. and V. Christensen. 2019. “Vulnerability of the marine ecosystem to climate change impacts in the Arabian Gulf—an urgent need for more research.” Global Ecology and Conservation 17:e00556. I was the lead author with responsibilities covering all major areas of concept formation, analyses, and manuscript structure and composition. V. Christensen contributed to concept formation as well as manuscript edits. A version of Chapter 2 has been published [Ben-Hasan, A., C. Walters, A. Hordyk, V. Christensen, M. Al-Husaini. 2021. Alleviating growth and recruitment overfishing through simple management changes: insights from an overexploited long-lived fish. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 13 (2): 87–98]. I was the lead author with responsibilities covering all major areas of concept formation, analyses, and manuscript structure and composition. C. Walters was involved in concept formation, all analyses and manuscript structure and composition; A. Hordyk and V. Christensen contributed to concept formation as well as manuscript edits; and M. Al-Husaini contributed to data collection. A version of Chapter 3 has been published in Ocean & Coastal Management [Ghanbarzadeh, M., A. Ben-Hasan, A. Salarpouri, C. Walters, E. Kamrani, and M. S. Ranjbar. 2021. “Coping with Steep Exploitation Rates in an Open Access Fishery.” Ocean & Coastal Management 201 (February): 105499.]. I was the second author with responsibility covering concept formation, analyses, and manuscript structure and composition. C. Walters contributed to analyses and supervised my responsibilities particularly with respect to concept formation and analyses. A version of Chapter 4 has been published in ICES Journal of Marine Science [Ben- Hasan, A., C. Walters, V. Christensen, G. Munro, U. R. Sumaila, and A. Al-Baz. 2020. Age-structured bioeconomic model for strategic interaction: an application to pomfret stock in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. ICES Journal of Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsaa049]. I was the lead author with responsibility covering all major areas of concept formation, analyses, and manuscript structure and composition. C. Walters was involved in concept formation, all analyses and manuscript edits; V. Christensen, G. Munro, and U. R. Sumaila were involved in concept formation and manuscript edits; and A. Al-Baz contributed to data collection. A version of Chapter 5 is in press [A. Ben-Hasan, Y. Sadovy de Mitcheson, M. A. Cisneros-Mata, É. A. Jimenez, M. Daliri, A. M. Cisneros-Montemayor, R. J. Nair, S.A. Thankappan, C. J. Walters, V. Christensen. In press. China’s fish maw demand and its implications for fisheries in source countries. Marine Policy]. I was the lead author with responsibilities covering all major areas of concept formation, analyses, as well as v manuscript structure and composition. Y. Sadovy de Mitcheson was involved in the early stages of concept formation and contributed to manuscript edits; M. A. Cisneros- Mata, É. A. Jimenez, M. Daliri, A. M. Cisneros-Montemayor, R. J. Nair, S. A. Thankappan contributed to data collection and manuscript edits; and C. Walters and V. Christensen were involved in concept formation. A version of Chapter 6 is under review [Ben-Hasan, A., S. De La Puente, D. Flores, M. C. Melnychuk, E. Tivoli, V. Christensen, W. Cui, C. Walters. In review. Constrained public benefits from global catch share fisheries]. I was the lead author with responsibilities covering all major areas of concept formation as well as manuscript structure and composition, and, to a lesser degree, analyses. S. De La Puente contributed to concept formation, analyses and manuscript edits; D. Flores, M. C. Melnychuk, and E. Tivoli were involved in data collection, analyses and manuscript edits; V. Christensen, W. Cui, and C. Walters contributed to concept formation and manuscript edits. vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary .................................................................................................................. iv Preface ............................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xii List of Figures ................................................................................................................